Africa-Press – South-Sudan. At least 12 family members have reportedly been killed after a Noah vehicle collided with a heavy truck along the Juba-Nimule highway on Saturday last week.
The incident happened at Amer Junction after a heavy truck vehicle missed its side and collided with a Noah vehicle that was following its side leading to the death of twelve people from the same family with three children and the driver injured.
South Sudan’s Police Spokesperson Maj. Gen Daniel Justin says the bodies of the deceased family were escorted to Nimule and that the survivors of the accidents have been taken also to Nimule Hospital. He says they have earlier deployed the highway traffic to monitor the speed of the vehicles with the aid of some devices.
“Yeah actually it was around one and two afternoons, the minibus was knocked by a truck. It is at the junction of Magwi in the village called Amer and the people who lost their lives were twelve then four people got some injuries, three of them are children and the fourth is the driver. So the bodies were taken to Nimule and even the injured ones also, they were escorted to the Hospital in Nimule. These accidents use to happen but for us from our side, we have deployed our highway traffic to monitor the speed of the vehicles, we have some devices to control this” said Maj Gen Justin.
Meanwhile Capt. Juma George who confirmed the accident narrated that the whole family died during the incident attributed to by over speeding. “Yes it is true, this big vehicle collided with the small car. The small car was carrying a family; it was carrying the whole family. This whole family died and only three people remained. Three children remained. Actually, it is caused by overspeeding. The mistake might have been from the truck driver because it happened at the corner at the side of the small car. It happened at the corner. The family was going to Uganda; they are South Sudanese” Capt. Juma confirmed.
The officer discloses that the driver of the truck vehicle was arrested and is now in Nimule custody. The Traffic Police officer advises the drivers of the two countries (Uganda and South Sudan) to observe the traffic rules while on South Sudan roads to curb cases of accidents along the highway. He reiterates his call on the South Sudanese drivers to follow their right hands while on the road as Ugandan drivers easily forget their ways.
“The driver of the truck has been arrested and he is in custody. What I can tell the drivers coming from East Africa is let them move slowly especially during this season of festivities where many people are traveling. We also tell our drivers to follow their sides very well because these drivers coming from East Africa can sometimes forget their sides and come towards the right-hand side. So drivers should be very careful” he advised.
For his part, Magwi County Executive Director Ochieng David Tokwaro says….“Yeah, we even heard I think the day before yesterday (Saturday) but the detail is not clear but an accident happened anyway that killed people and all of them happened to be the same family members. I don’t know how this bad coincident came about. We lost so many people along that road. I think it is attributed to overspeeding and the rest of it” said Ochieng. This is not the first time accident occur along the same highway caused by the negligence of some rivers that don’t stick to their sides of the road.
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