Tikutandara hedu panyika ... Memorial service yevanhu 14 vakafira muna Beatrice road š£ļø.Road yacho ndiyo yekumbouraya Mukadzi waTsvangirai wekutanga dai vaigadzirisaš„THE accident which killed 16 people in Beatrice on Friday has been declared a national disaster and the Government will assist the bereaved families cover funeral expenses, while catering for the expenses of the injured.
Twenty-eight people were left hospitalised when a haulage truck was involved in a head-on collision with a Mercedes Benz Sprinter which was travelling towards Chivhu with 44 passengers on board.
The passengers were members of Angels Family Apostolic Church on their way to Makumumavi Shrine, Chivhu.
Police have since released 11 names of the 16 dead.
Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona and Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe yesterday visited the accident scene and the victims at Chivhu and Chitungwiza hospitals.
Minister Mhona said: “Before we visited this place, we had to pass through the accident scene and it is quite disturbing that such a fatal road accident has happened when our great leader Cde Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa is seized with the matter of rehabilitating our roads.
“After the accident, we had to brief His Excellency Cde Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa on the accident and immediately he directed that the CPU, under the Ministry of Local Government led by Honourable Minister Daniel Garwe, take corrective measures and declare the accident a national disaster and this has happened. “Assistance is being rendered to the bereaved families and also those who have been hospitalised.
“What is disturbing is that the road has been widened just before Beatrice and that the Sprinter bus was not supposed to have been carrying 44 passengers.
“How would 44 people fit in such a bus? We need to work closely with police in terms of ensuring that public passenger vehicles do not exceed their carrying capacity,” said Minister Mhona.
He also urged the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe to continue engaging the public and motorists to raise awareness on road safety to avoid the unnecessary loss of lives.
Minister Mhona said his ministry will revisit the legislation on the driving of public service vehicles and come up with deterrent measures to curb road carnage.
Minister Garwe said the bereaved families would be given coffins and food.
“The second area where Government has intervened is to cover medical costs for those that are in hospitals and we are happy that they are being treated,” he said.
