A truck driver was involved in two separate road traffic accidents on Sunday night leading to six deaths and eight injuries.
Police said the truck side-swiped a kombi at the 5km peg along Mvuma-Gweru Road around 11 PM on Sunday and did not stop.
Six people were killed in the accident while five others were injured and ferried to Mvuma Hospital for medical care.
The truck driver was later involved in another road traffic accident along the Harare–Masvingo Road resulting in three people sustaining injuries. ZRP said:
The ZRP confirms a fatal road traffic accident in which six people died while five others were injured when a truck side-swiped with a Sprinter vehicle at the 5 km peg along Mvuma-Gweru Road on 09/04/23 at around 2300 hours.
The bodies of the victims were taken to Mvuma Hospital for post-mortem while the injured are admitted at the same hospital.
The truck driver did not stop after the accident and was involved in another accident at the 192 km peg along Harare–Masvingo Road where the truck veered off the road resulting in the injury of three passengers who were in the truck.
Police said more details will be released in due course.
ZRP, however, did not disclose the driver’s identity or the nature of the consignment he was ferrying.
According to a report, the Road Traffic Act Chapter 13:11 Section 70 sets out the duties of drivers when involved in accidents.
Section 70(2) states that any person, who is a driver of a vehicle on or near a road at the time when the vehicle is involved in or contributes to an accident in which injury is caused to any person or damage to any property or if a person or animal is killed the first duty is to stop immediately.
Failure to stop when an accident occurs is a serious criminal offence — in other words hitting and running is a crime no matter the circumstance.
After stopping, the second duty is to ascertain whether any person has been killed or injured.
The third duty is to render any assistance possible or capable of being reasonably rendered.
If someone has died, the other driver, regardless of fault, has a duty to take all reasonable measures to guard the corpse until the police arrive.
It is a requirement to alert the police immediately if the accident involves another vehicle or is of a serious nature.
Measures should be taken to contact the nearest police station or the traffic police general line.
The police should attend to all accident scenes.
It is an offence to tamper with evidence at an accident scene.
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