Zimpapers Logo

Fairness Moyana Hwange Correspondent
FORTY-ONE people were injured when a Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) staff bus veered off the road and overturned near Hwange Power Station on Friday.

The injured mostly ZPC employees’ dependents were rushed to Hwange Colliery and St Patrick’s hospitals.

Efforts to get a comment from police were fruitless.

Witnesses said the driver lost control of the bus, which was coming from the company’s residential area, after it hit a pothole.

They said the 53 passengers cheated death as the vehicle ploughed into trees and overturned, trapping some of people. “The bus was coming from Ingagula carrying dependants mostly women who were going to Number One. Just as it got close to the power station it hit a pothole, veered off the road, uprooting trees and landed on its side,” said a witness who asked not to be named.

When the Chronicle crew visited the scene the station’s fire brigade department was combing through the wreckage of the Mercedes bus.

An official at Hwange Colliery hospital who requested anonymity said most of the passengers suffered injuries that included bruises and broken limbs.

The official said one woman was in critical condition and was due to undergo surgery.

Scores of relatives of the injured passengers swarmed HCCL hospital where most victims were admitted in an effort to determine their condition.

Narrating his ordeal George Ncube, one of the survivors said he heard a loud noise under the bus before it swerved off the road.

“Everything happened in a flash. One moment we were on the road then the next there was a loud noise underneath the bus before the driver lost control and it overturned,” said Ncube.

“There were screams, mostly from women, as the bus fell on its side. I was one of the people who were trapped. I couldn’t move my neck. I was freed by other passengers who had managed to get out.”

About two weeks ago, ZPC managing director, Engineer Noah Gwariro survived a nasty car crash near Victoria Falls.