Minor run over by truck

RUNDU – Five-year-old Josephine August, also known as Emma, died tragically on Thursday evening when she was accidentally bumped by a truck while crossing the road at Kachinakachi village.

Emma’s father August Johannes was at the scene, but overcome with emotion and unable to speak to Nampa at the time. The accident occurred approximately 30 kilometres outside Mururani on the way from Rundu. Constable Gabriel Lukas of the Mururani traffic office told Nampa at the scene that the accident occurred while two trucks were passing Kachinakachi. One of them was on its way to Mururani from Rundu, while the other truck was moving in the opposite direction.

“What happened is that three children were crossing the road to go to the other side, but they left the small girl behind. The two managed to cross over. The deceased tried to follow her siblings without looking the other side, leading to her being bumped by the truck that was coming from Rundu,” explained Lukas.

A crowd from the Kachinakachi location’s shebeen had to be restrained as they wanted to beat up the truck driver.

Calm was restored after the police allowed the truck driver to proceed to the Mururani police station, while he surrendered his documents [driver’s licence and identification cards] to the officers.

“I had to let the driver proceed to the Mururani police station while calming the situation and at the same time waiting for the ambulance to pick up the corpse. The situation was chaotic,” Lukas stated.

“These sorts of accidents are now increasing in this area day by day, but our efforts to get hold of Roads Authority (RA) officials to construct speed humps in such areas have proven futile.

I am again pleading with the RA to attend to this matter as soon as possible,” he added. The 29-year-old truck driver, whose name is known but cannot be revealed until he appears in court, will be charged with culpable homicide, Lukas said.