DRIVER DIES AS TRUCK CATCHES FIRE

MANZINI – You go to work in the morning and God willing, you come back home at night.

This old saying did not hold true for a 37-year-old truck driver who died tragically when his lorry caught fire after it collided head-on with another on Monday.  The tragic accident took place near Joy Mission, along the accident-prone Hhelehhele-Siphofaneni Public Road at  around 6pm. The trucks’ head-on crash resulted in the two lorries being burnt beyond recognition and the other driver is currently fighting for his life in hospital. A source from the community where the accident took place said it was not clear what could have caused the accident because it was dark and there was light drizzle. However, they suspected that the wet road surface contributed to the horrific accident. He said they were stirred-up by a loud explosion which was followed by a fierce blaze.

He said the shaken community members watched from a distance as the trucks burnt without knowing about the people who were inside the vehicles.
“Firefighters extinguished the fierce blaze, allowing police to examine the severly burnt cabins and they were able to extract both drivers. However, one was already dead while the other was seriously injured,” the source said.
Again, the source said it could not be established what the trucks were ferrying because the cabins were burnt beyond recognition, such that the police had difficulty in establishing the cause of the accident and where the trucks were coming from. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Khulani Mamba, confirmed the accident and said it was tragic. He said police were still trying to establish what could have caused the accident. He said one of the trucks was an ERF driven by a 37-year-old man of Bethany, while the other was unknown. He said both drivers sustained serious injuries and were rushed to the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital where the 37-year-old man was certified dead on arrival.

It is worth noting that a month ago, a passenger died tragically when he and two others were thrown out through the windscreen of a runaway truck that went on to smash a tree and caught fire. The horrific accident took place near Nkilongo, along the same public road.

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