11 dead in Gokwe-Kwekwe road accident, lorry crashes into scotch cart, kombi

Gokwe people killed after lorry crashes into scotch cart, on coming commuter bus

GOKWE: 11 people died on the spot while several others were seriously injured when a Toyota Hiace commuter omnibus collided head-on with a haulage truck near Summerview shopping centre in Zhombe along Gokwe-Kwekwe highway on Friday night.

The accident occurred at around 7 PM when the Gokwe bound commuter omnibus which had approximately 18 people on board collided head-on with a haulage truck which was heading towards Kwekwe.

According to passengers, the haulage truck first sideswiped an ox drawn cart which had three people on board and swerved to the right encroaching onto the lane of the oncoming commuter omnibus resulting in the head-on collision.

They said three of the dead were in the cart while eight were in the kombi.

Zhombe Legislator, Engineer Daniel McKenzie Ncube confirmed the accident saying eight people died on the spot as a result of the collision while the other three died at Kwekwe District Hospital where the injured were rushed to.

“There was an accident which occurred along Gokwe-Kwekwe road on Friday night. A commuter omnibus collided head on with a haulage truck after the truck first hit a scotch cart. The last time I checked eight people were confirmed dead,” he said.

A survivor Mr Kenny Magoronga who was travelling in the commuter omnibus said after the haulage truck sideswiped with a scotch cart killing all the three people in the cart, it swerved to the right lane.

“I am one of the passengers who were injured in the accident. Eleven people died in the accident according to the information we got. We were going towards Gokwe when a haulage truck hit a scotch cart before swerving to the right encroaching into our lane resulting in a head on collision,” he said.

The Gokwe-Kwekwe road is covered with tall grass on the edges making it difficult to see oncoming traffic around road bends.