RUNAWAY BUS LEAVES 2 DEAD AT BUS RANK

Fire and Emergency Services personnel and members of the public trying to stop the fuel from pouring out of Peter’s Transport.

MANZINI – An accident involving three buses at the congested Manzini Bus Rank saw two people crushed to death yesterday.

The accident was caused, the police have confirmed, when a runaway bus crashed into a stationary bus killing its bus conductor instantly. The initial crash had a domino effect as it led to a second crash where a bus rank marshal was also crushed to death instantly.

The accident happened at about 3pm yesterday. The buses that were involved in the accident were Peter’s Transport, Thula Ukhalelani Bus Service and Masiphula Transport.
Peter’s Transport and Thula Ukhalelani operate between Manzini and Lomahasha while Masiphula Transport operates between Manzini and Ntshanini.

Information gathered from an eyewitness, Bongani Dvuba, was that Peter’s Transport was in a queue at the bus rank, preparing to park and load passengers when the accident happened. Dvuba said when Thula Ukhalelani Bus Service was about to leave, the Peter’s Transport driver released the handbrake in readiness to park the bus properly.

He alleged that the driver thought the bus was in reverse gear yet it was not, thus when he lower the handbrake it went forward and crashed into Thula Ukhalelani thereby killing its conductor, who had been standing near the bus.
Other witnesses alleged that the bus had a brake failure thus the driver failed to stop it from causing the accident.

“The driver failed to control the bus because it was close to Thula Ukhalelani Bus Service. Due to the impact of the runaway bus, Thula Ukhalelani Bus Service crashed into the stationary Masiphula Transport crushing to death a bus rank marshal. The marshal was on duty, helping people to board Masiphula Transport,” Dvuba said.

The country has experienced at least nine horrific road accidents, including this one since the beginning of the year.
Prophet Gcina Mthethwa, who was said to have prophesied that God was not happy with the country, said accidents would happen until Ascension Day which was about three weeks ago.

On April 30, 2014, over 20 cars were involved in a pile-up on Malagwane Hill. Two people were killed on the spot, government said. The third victim of this accident, who was a soldier, died last week after being admitted to hospital for some time. On May 4, 2014, 12 people died at Mbhandlane after a Corsa Utility van and an Iveco minibus were involved in a head-on collision and about two weeks later, 10 people were killed after a kombi plunged into a river near Pigg’s Peak.

Some witnesses claimed that the bus rank accident could have been more fatal if Masiphula Transport was not parked adjacent to Thula Ukhalelani Bus Service.
“Even though the bus (Peter’s Transport) had not moved a long distance before hitting Thula Ukhalelani, the impact could have caused the latter to fall onto people, thus causing a more fatal accident,” said one of the witnesses.

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