12 perish in an Ingwe Linking Africa road accident

Twelve people died and several others were injured after a 48-seater Ingwe Linking Africa registration number RNW 427 GP bus enroute to South Africa was involved in a road accident Thursday evening. The accident happened between 5 and 6 pm between Changara and Tete, some 250km from Blantyre.

According to inside sources, the accident happened when a pick-up was trying to overtake the Ingwe bus and upon seeing another on coming vehicle in a high speed, swayed, blocking the Ingwe bus and forcing it to roll on the side, killing nine on the spot including all six in the pick up. The pick-up belonged to Sidik Juma, a Chigumula resident who was working for AYCOM in Blantyre. Sources say his body was torn to pieces and therefore the remains will be buried in Mozambique. Juma had just been married for six months and has left a pregnant wife. The dead include the bus steward whose name can not be disclosed until next of kin have been notified.

An Ingwe Linking Africa employee who spoke on a condition of anonymity, told bestofmalawi that only three weeks ago, the same driver, who has survived the accident, hit a pedestrian in Mwanza, when he was driving drunk. She said another Ingwe Linking Africa bus that left South Africa yesterday, has broken down in Zimbabwe, creating more fears among people whose relatives and colleagues had been traveling on the buses within the past two days.
 
As we went to print, bestofmalawi crew was still trying to establish details of the other dead and injured persons. Efforts to reach both the Mozambique and Malawi Police for more details proved futile.