Harare (New Ziana) – Five people died on the spot while three others sustained serious injuries when two private vehicles collided head-on along the Harare-Masvingo Road on Saturday.

In a statement on Sunday, National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said all the five occupants of one of the vehicles died on the spot.

“The Zimbabwe Republic Police is investigating a fatal road traffic accident which occurred at the 159 km peg along Harare-Masvingo Road on 11th February 2023 at around 1330 hours where five (05) people died on the spot while three (03) others were seriously injured.

“A driver who was driving a Mitsubishi Canter, registration number AFV 0664, due south towards Masvingo, with two (02) passengers on board had a front right tyre burst, lost control of the vehicle and encroached onto the opposite lane where he had a head-on collision with another motorist who was driving an unregistered Mazda Familiar motor vehicle due north towards Harare with four (04) passengers on board.

“All the occupants in the Mazda Familiar motor vehicle died on the spot,” he said.

The bodies of the deceased were conveyed to Chivhu General Hospital mortuary for post-mortem while the injured were referred for medical attention.

Nyathi urged motorists to ensure that their vehicles did not exceed load capacity when travelling on the roads to curb accidents.

In a related incident, police are investigating a road traffic accident which occurred on Saturday at the 20km peg along the Harare – Chirundu Road where two people died on the spot and three others were seriously injured.

The driver of a Toyota D4D with four passengers on board which was driving towards Harare collided with the trailer of a Scania haulage truck which was travelling towards Chinhoyi.

New Ziana