Eight people died yesterday morning when a commuter omnibus they were travelling in rammed into a broken-down lorry along the Chitungwiza– Hwedza highway in Dema.
National police spokesperson Charity Charamba confirmed the incident, calling on the public to desist from circulating pictures with dead accident victims on social networks.
“Six people died on the spot while two died on the way to hospital. Police are still attending to the scene. The lorry was parked in the middle of the road and there are signs that the driver had put a triangle as caution.
“The kombi then rammed into the back of the stationary lorry killing six people on the spot. And this happened around 6am,” said Charamba.
Some of the injured were taken to Kunaka Hospital, with Charamba saying they had not yet identified the dead.
“If you have a breakdown, please put clear warnings so that other drivers can slow down. And for other drivers, when approaching a blind curve, it is advisable to exercise caution.
“And while we are still at it, I want to tell members of the public to stop this thing of taking pictures of dead people at accident scenes and circulating them on social media, it’s bad. Imagine if it was you just seeing a picture of your dead relative circulating,” she said.
When the Daily News arrived at the scene soon after the accident, the injured had been ferried to hospital while those who had died were covered in blankets.
The accident occurred right at the entrance of Dema Police Station.
Primary schoolchildren on their way to Marikopo Primary School were gathered around the scene as they looked shocked seeing dead bodies lying on the ground.
This comes just weeks after 45 people died while 30 others were injured in a bus crash along the Harare-Chirundu highway.
The King Lion bus was on its way to Zambia, Lusaka, when the driver lost control of the bus before it rammed into a tree in Nyamakate.
Earlier on, a South Africa-bound Proliner bus accident had killed more than 20 people, burning them beyond recognition.
Government is in the process of crafting a new fuel levy document to bankroll a Road Accident Fund, which will provide insurance to cover people involved in motor accidents as well as their families.
