MUTARE – A drunk pedestrian is being blamed after a fiery bus collision with a fuel tanker which killed four people near Mutare on Christmas Eve.
Police say the driver of a Beta bus was avoiding running over the drunk unidentified man at around 6PM when he swerved into the opposing lane before crashing into a fuel tanker.
Two passengers on the Harare-bound bus, the fuel tanker driver and his passenger were killed in the crash about 15km out of Mutare on the highway to Harare.
“It is said that the bus driver tried to avoid a drunk person who was in the road thereby encroaching into the opposite lane,” national police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said.
Witnesses described scenes of heroism as dozens of passengers helped each other to escape the burning bus.
The dead were burnt beyond recognition.
Police said 54 people were treated for various injuries at Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital.
Meanwhile, police said one person died and dozens others were injured on Thursday when a Munhenzva cross-border bus with 29 passengers onboard burst a tyre and landed on its roof on the highway between Beitbridge and Masvingo.
