The government has cancelled the operating permit of Passion Link Coaches after one of its buses was involved in an accident that claimed the lives of eight Anglican Diocese of Manicaland members on Sunday evening.
The accident near Gandanzara Business Centre, about 44 kilometres along the Nyabadza-Gandanzara Road.
The Anglican church members were returning from their Bernard Mzeki shrine in Marondera when the bus caught fire resulting in eight people being burnt beyond recognition while eleven others were injured, three of them seriously.
They were travelling to their rural homes in Sherukuru in Mutasa District, Manicaland Province.
The Manica Post reported that the bus experienced several mechanical faults along the way, including a faulty clutch.
On approaching the 26km peg along the road, passengers noticed some smoke coming out of the bus engine and alerted the driver – Ray Donald Mugari (40).
The driver stopped the bus to investigate the source of the smoke.
Mugari allegedly opened the engine cover located inside the bus near the passengers’ door, and immediately a fireball came out of the engine and quickly engulfed the whole bus.
The driver and other passengers escaped from the burning bus through the door and emergency exit windows but the eight were trapped inside, and burnt to death.
Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Felix Mhona, visited the scene of the accident on Sunday, before visiting the survivors at Rusape General Hospital.
He said the Government has revoked Passion Link Coaches’ operating licence with immediate effect after the owner admitted that the bus that was involved in the accident had no certificate of fitness. Said Mhona:
The bus operator has openly admitted that the bus had no certificate of fitness, meaning it was not roadworthy.
A bus that does not have a certificate of fitness should not be used to ferry people, and the police will arrest both the bus owner and driver as part of the investigations.
The other buses from this company will not be allowed to ply our roads again with immediate effect.
We have cancelled their operating permit, which means we will not allow them to ply our roads to carry people.
If they had complied with the traffic laws, which do not allow buses without a certificate of fitness to ply our roads, this accident could have been avoided.
