Claims two lives
Marthina Mutanga
LIMITED visibility on the road due to smoke from a veld fire between Otavi and Otjiwarongo resulted in the loss of two lives after a minibus collided with a pick-up truck.
Otjozondjupa Regional Police Spokesperson, Inspector Maureen Mbeha, confirmed that two people died this afternoon about 20km from Otavi following an accident between a minibus transporting eight passengers and a pick-up truck with two people.
Mbeha said the emergency services and fire fighters were dispatched to the scene, but found a grizzly sight.
According to Mbeha, a farmer and his son were trying to extinguish the veld fire and had parked their bakkie next to the road, which the mini-bus drove into.
Several passengers managed to escape once the minibus caught fire, but the driver of the bus was reportedly trapped inside the bus and burned to death.
The second death was reportedly a passenger in the parked pick-up truck, but it is not yet clear if it was father or son who was killed in the fire.
Emergency workers on the ground said that the fire caused by the collision started another veld fire, which first respondents have been fighting since the accident was reported.
The Chairperson of the Otjozondjupa Regional Council, Marlene Mbakera, has warned residents of the Otjozondjupa Region, as well as motorists using the B1 highway to be cautious.
According to Mbakera, motorists using the road should drive carefully, especially when approaching the area where the accident happened as the response teams are still on the ground and hard at work to contain and eventually put out the fire.
