Mozambique: Bus loses brakes, crashes into seven vehicles in Maputo

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Bus loses brakes, crashes into seven vehicles in Maputo

7:25 CAT | 26 Jan 2022

Photo: O País

A public transport bus lost its brakes yesterday and collided with seven vehicles along the Avenida Guerra Popular in Maputo.

The accident took place around 9:00 a.m. on Monday. Witnesses report that five people were injured, two of them passengers who, alarmed at being on a bus whose brakes had failed, and which had already collided with three vehicles, were injured when they jumped from the windows of the moving vehicle.

Street vendor Nescil de Sousa said he watched from his kiosk as bus ‘swept’ three cars, until it encountered a stronger obstacle and stopped.

This final obstacle comprised a light vehicle hit from behind, and another bus into which it was rammed.

“The lady [driver] got out bleeding from her face. Her car was badly affected,” said one of the witnesses.

Eyewitnesses say they saw the bus descending towards Avenida 25 de Setembro at high speed and honking its horn. The distraught driver says that the loss of brakes was inexplicable, as the vehicle had just come from maintenance.

A second accident

Also in Maputo this Monday, two people were injured when their vehicles were involved in a road accident caused, according to the authorities, by speeding and ignoring signage.

“A mandatory stop sign was ignored and there was excessive speed on the part of the motorist who was driving along Ahmed Sékou Touré Avenue. Both drivers were rescued, but none of them made statements. We are still working on it and will have more information later,” traffic police officer Damião Wilson said.

Witnesses claim that the incident could easily have been avoided and readily indicated the culprit. They also reported that one of the drivers gave false statements to the police officers when they arrived on-scene.

“The driver of the light passenger vehicle came on at high speed and failed to give priority to the minibus, a Toyota Revo, which ended up overturning The offender lied to the police, telling them that someone else was behind the wheel of his car, and, after committing this infraction, he fled,” Micas Dias said.

Some residents and regular visitors to the area say that accidents have been recurrent at that particular location, and have been asking for traffic lights to be installed in order to avoid more of the same.

“I am a security guard of this building, and I’ve been working in this area for many years. I’ve seen lots of identical scenarios. Drivers do a lot of harm to the road, and we’re asking those in charge to get a handle on the traffic situation here,” one witness said.

According to sources at the scene, the victims were taken to a nearby hospital with apparently minor injuries.

Source: O País