Police Arrest Mbala Accident Driver

Police in Mbala have arrested the driver of a lorry which overturned on Saturday, killing 27 people on the spot.

Northern Province Police commissioner Charity Katanga said in an interview that 29-year-old Virtuous Walya Sichilima has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving.
Katanga further disclosed that Sichilima was also charged with unlicensed driving as the licence he had was not for the kind of vehicle he was driving, a Fuso truck registration number ACX 5816.

“Sichilima was treated and discharged today (yesterday) and we have since arrested and detained him. He had class B driver’s licence when he was supposed to have class B1,” she said.

Katanga explained that Sichilima was fatigued and dozed off due to the nature of the vehicle he was driving.

“The accident was also exacerbated by overloading and when it overturned, it threw away all the passengers who were sitting on caterpillar sacks,” she added.

And Katanga appealed to vehicle owners to ensure that they control their drivers.

She further appealed to travellers to refrain from boarding overloaded vehicles in order to avoid loss of life.

Katanga also added that about 71 passengers were still admitted to Mbala General Hospital but were in stable conditions.

“The total number of people who were on the vehicle was 97. So 27 people died and the status quo remains the same, while about 56 females and 15 children are still admitted to hospital,” said Katanga. “And about 36 of those in hospital have been identified.”

Posted by Kunda on November 18, 2014. Filed under CRIME. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.