Fatal accident claims 18 lives and 23 seriously injured
At Mamurie village along the Magburaka/Kono highway, a Volvo trailer with registration number AIA-656 (front) and AIA 679 (rear) has claimed seventeen lives and twenty-two seriously injured victims at about 4:30 a.m., early Thursday morning, police report states.
Confirmed report has it that the trailer was heading for Kono, and was fully loaded with commodities such as bags of rice, sugar, onions etc. Preliminary investigations by the Traffic Unit attached to the Magburaka Police division have further indicated that the trailer did not actually fall by itself neither summersault, but eventually leaned to one side, and as a result, the loaded goods unavoidably squeezed the passengers onboard, thereby resulting in the sudden death of the 18 passengers.
Among the 18 were 17 female and 1 male, whilst the seriously injured included 14 female and 9 male. The seriously injured are currently responding to medical treatment at the government hospital in Magburaka, Tonkolili district, northern Sierra Leone, Regional Traffic Coordinator, north-east, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mohamed M. Bangura said.
However, survivors have managed to confirm that the driver was noticed drinking alcohol whilst driving. Furthermore, he was also said to have been spotted sleeping behind the steering when he was said to have been advised by the passengers to park the lorry and wait for a continuation in the morning, but he failed to adhere, some of the survivors told the Police in Magburaka.
Shockingly after the accident had occurred sources add, the driver and his mate escaped, perhaps in fear of an on-the-spot mob justice. At about mid day, the ASP continued, the driver and surfaced at the Magburaka Police station where he is currently helping the Police in their investigations. The driver is James Conteh of 39 Phillip Street, Wellington, Freetown.
According to the Regional Traffic Coordinator, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mohamed M. Bangura, drivers are still in the stubborn habit of drinking whilst driving despite every advice and relative charges to court for the offence. Bangura acknowledged that the atrocious habit of drinking while driving is a usual trick of both private and commercial drivers. It is high time we begin to mount some special and on-the-spot operations on vehicles in motion, the ASP suggested.
In a separate incident, one Alhaji Koroma, an employee of the London Mining Company in Lunsar was killed on Wednesday, July 31st, onboard a Nissan Sunny car heading from Lunsar via Makeni with registration number AFJ 591. The Nissan car had collided with an RSLAF Land Rover. The Land Rover was traveling from Kabala via Freetown and was driven by one Saidu Mandawa an attaché to the 12th Military Battalion in Kabala. Five passengers were onboard the car whose driver was Suliaman Fofanah of 15 Watson Street, Makeni.
In the car, only the London Mining employee died on the spot whilst the other four sustained injuries. Meanwhile, none in the Military Land Rover died nor were injured, Police report states. The cause of the accident is yet under Police investigation, the ASP confirmed.
By Alie Mozart Sesay, Makeni
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