Police name 6 crash victims

POLICE have named six accident victims who died in two separate road accidents in Mbembesi and Glen Norah B earlier this week.

In a statement, chief police spokeswoman Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said the six had been identified by their next of kin.

The two who were killed in Glen Norah when a trailer unhooked from a Jaraxowned cross- border bus are Alice Mitchel Chabuka (16), a female juvenile of house number 9734 Glen View, Harare and Sabulawa Siziba ( 50), a male adult of Glen View 4, Harare.

Those who were killed in the Mbembesi accident have been identified as Nesbert Marara ( 33), a male adult of house number 6249 Gwabalanda, Bulawayo; Gif t Tinashe Musewe (26), a male adult and Edward Manzombe (40), a male adult.

The quartet perished when a Toyota Spacio vehicle they were travelling in side-swiped a haulage truck before colliding head- on with another truck at the 396km peg along the Harare- Bulawayo highway near Mbembesi.

Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said: “The Zimbabwe Repub- lic Police is deeply concerned with the loss of lives in road accidents.

Our sincere condolences to the bereaved family members. We are urging motorists to avoid speeding and exercise caution when travelling.”

Authorities are concerned about rising accidents, particularly in Harare.

In a separate statement on Thursday, the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe said Harare province accounted for over half of the 42 430 accidents recorded countrywide in 2017 at 23 140.

Midlands and Mashonaland West provinces followed after Harare with 2 621 and 2 511 accidents respectively.

Matabeleland Nor t h recorded the least number of accidents (870), although the number of deaths increased from 89 in 2016 to 102 in 2017.

Overall, the total road accidents, at 42 430 last year, represent a 10 percent increase on 38 620 accidents recorded in 2016.

Al s o road fatalities increased by seven percent to 1 838 in 2017 from 1 721 in 2016.

But injuries associated with road accidents dropped by 8 percent to 10 489 in 2017 from 11 379 the previous year.