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Four killed in Iringa lorry smash
2006-01-09 08:43:28
By Mawazo Malembeka, PST, Iringa
Four people have been killed and another three seriously injured when two lorries collided in Iringa Rural District on Saturday.
The crash took place at Kisolanza Village on the Iringa-Mbeya highway, Iringa Regional Police Commander Matei Basilio said yesterday.
Charles Yapesa, Fred Masika, Egid Kisoso and a fourth person whose identity could not be immediately established died on the spot while the two drivers, Fred Simon and Mwamini Iddi, were seriously injured.
The identity of the third person injured in the crash was not immediately known as he had not regained consciousness at Iringa Regional Hospital where the three casualties were admitted.
Basilio said the accident involved a lorry travelling to Dar es Salaam from Zambia and another heading to Mbeya from Dar es Salaam.
Police and rescuers had a hard time freeing the injured and the dead from the mangled wreckages of the vehicles.
Axes had to be used to free the victims instead of acetylene torches which were ruled out for fear that they could have ignited the cargo of fuel that was on board one of the lorries.
Meanwhile, a government employee was found dead in the middle of a road in Iringa Municipality’s Mtwivila area.
Basilio said police were working to establish the cause of the death of Revocatus Malima, 34.
While some reports said Malima was killed in a hit-and-run road accident, others said he was murdered elsewhere and his body dumped on the road to create the impression that he was hit by a car.
’Whether he was killed by a car or murdered will be known once a post-mortem has been conducted on the body,’ Basilio said.
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