By PISAI GUMAR
THIRTEEN people died instantly within 30 hours at the same location in two road accidents at Sasiang Farm in Morobe, The National reports.
When the Lae Fire Brigade was contacted after the second accident, seven officers led by chief provincial fire commander Alphonse Aime rushed to the scene of the accident.
But, on their way at a sharp corner past Erap Bridge, the two front tyres of the fire truck blew.
The fire truck veered off the road and overturned, with Aime and another officer suffering injuries to the head, shoulder and arms.
In the initial accident, the PMV Coaster was on its way to Lae from Mt Hagen when it collided with a KK & Sons semi-trailer.
The Dyna truck was returning from Madang when it, too, ploughed head-on into the semi-trailer left by the roadside.
Mutzing health staff said five people from the PMV died instantly with the others suffering severe body injuries and were taken to the Angau Memorial Hospital.
First Const David Waiko from Mutzing police, who attended the first accident, said he had asked the truck owner to remove the vehicle and trailer.
But the police instructions were ignored with the trailer left on the highway for a day and two nights.
The second accident occurred in the early hours of Saturday.
The Mazda Dyna was loaded with empty gas cylinders and boxes of medical drugs with six male passengers.
The vehicle, owned by a Manus man, is contracted to the Lae area base medical store for drug procurement, and was returning to Lae after delivering drugs to the Modilon General Hospital in Madang.
Patsy Saku, from Buingim village in Bukawa, Morobe, said 12 people had boarded the truck in Madang to go to Lae. But, at the Ono Bridge, Saku and five others got off and transferred to a Toyota Land Cruiser, leaving the others to continue the trip to Lae on the Dyna truck.
Zifasing rural police station commander Simon Sinanu and highway patrol senior constables Simon Auma and Moses Aris could not confirm the cause of the accident.
However, they said the impact of the collision
pushed the trailer 37m off the road and ripped off the truck's cabin, killing the driver instantly.
The crew member and two others in the cabin were crushed while four others at the back were trapped between the empty gas cylinders and the caved-in cabin.
All were crushed to death. Two were believed to be from Manus while six were from Bukawa.
Vehicles from East West Transport, Hi Lift and Shorncliffe (PNG) Ltd helped remove the trailer before Mutzing health officers could retrieve the bodies.
The semi-trailer was looted after the first accident. The accidents occurred along the Markham plains in Morobe while the vehicles were travelling to Lae from Mt Hagen (Western Highlands) and Madang respectively.
In one incident, a 25-seater Coaster PMV bus collided with a 22-wheel semi-trailer between 6pm and 9pm last Thursday, killing four passengers and a driver. Then, at 1am last Saturday, a Mazda truck returning from Madang crashed into the semi-trailer involved in the previous accident, which had been left without warning signals at the roadside, killing all eight aboard.
THIRTEEN people died instantly within 30 hours at the same location in two road accidents at Sasiang Farm in Morobe, The National reports.
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| The semi-trailer and truck after last Saturday's accident.-Nationalpics by PISAE GUMAR |
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| A closer view of the truck crushed under the semi-trailer |
When the Lae Fire Brigade was contacted after the second accident, seven officers led by chief provincial fire commander Alphonse Aime rushed to the scene of the accident.
But, on their way at a sharp corner past Erap Bridge, the two front tyres of the fire truck blew.
The fire truck veered off the road and overturned, with Aime and another officer suffering injuries to the head, shoulder and arms.
In the initial accident, the PMV Coaster was on its way to Lae from Mt Hagen when it collided with a KK & Sons semi-trailer.
The Dyna truck was returning from Madang when it, too, ploughed head-on into the semi-trailer left by the roadside.
Mutzing health staff said five people from the PMV died instantly with the others suffering severe body injuries and were taken to the Angau Memorial Hospital.
First Const David Waiko from Mutzing police, who attended the first accident, said he had asked the truck owner to remove the vehicle and trailer.
But the police instructions were ignored with the trailer left on the highway for a day and two nights.
The second accident occurred in the early hours of Saturday.
The Mazda Dyna was loaded with empty gas cylinders and boxes of medical drugs with six male passengers.
The vehicle, owned by a Manus man, is contracted to the Lae area base medical store for drug procurement, and was returning to Lae after delivering drugs to the Modilon General Hospital in Madang.
Patsy Saku, from Buingim village in Bukawa, Morobe, said 12 people had boarded the truck in Madang to go to Lae. But, at the Ono Bridge, Saku and five others got off and transferred to a Toyota Land Cruiser, leaving the others to continue the trip to Lae on the Dyna truck.
Zifasing rural police station commander Simon Sinanu and highway patrol senior constables Simon Auma and Moses Aris could not confirm the cause of the accident.
However, they said the impact of the collision
pushed the trailer 37m off the road and ripped off the truck's cabin, killing the driver instantly.
The crew member and two others in the cabin were crushed while four others at the back were trapped between the empty gas cylinders and the caved-in cabin.
All were crushed to death. Two were believed to be from Manus while six were from Bukawa.
Vehicles from East West Transport, Hi Lift and Shorncliffe (PNG) Ltd helped remove the trailer before Mutzing health officers could retrieve the bodies.
The semi-trailer was looted after the first accident. The accidents occurred along the Markham plains in Morobe while the vehicles were travelling to Lae from Mt Hagen (Western Highlands) and Madang respectively.
In one incident, a 25-seater Coaster PMV bus collided with a 22-wheel semi-trailer between 6pm and 9pm last Thursday, killing four passengers and a driver. Then, at 1am last Saturday, a Mazda truck returning from Madang crashed into the semi-trailer involved in the previous accident, which had been left without warning signals at the roadside, killing all eight aboard.
What are the basic rules when there is an accident? I'm no safty officer but I rekcon its; seal of the area with yellow tape and put up signs to notify on coming traffic to be visible both, by day and night.
ReplyDeleteThen clear off the area within the next 24hrs if possible.
This simple rules, I believe could have prevented the other accidents. It was just plain stupidity and ignorance that caused more lives.
Traffic Officers & Fireman and women should be equipt with all up graded training they should have to save lives.
To the Traffic officers, it's about time basic safty road rules are put into place effectively. And stop only taggeting un-licence/drunks behind wheels. We want to see more road signs in our city and road rules followed to make driving safer.
Pom is grown rapidly, but I tell you, we definately have alot of hell drivers.