Biruk Girma
7 October 2009
Addis Ababa — A fatal, chain-reaction crash involving over twenty vehicles yesterday in Addis Ababa killed one and injured many, authorities confirmed.
The deadly car accident happened yesterday around 8:00 a.m. of the rush hour in the morning along route Total-Sost kutir mazoria square in the capital.
The impact ripped many cars, killing a passenger who was in the back seat of a white minibus, damaged mostly.
Police have not yet released the name of the dead passenger as of press time.
Many, including school children, were taken to hospitals with non-life threatening injuries and some with heavy injuries.
The Addis Ababa Traffic Police Commission team responded to the scene and said it is handling the investigation.
Addis Ababa Police Commission Pubic Relation Officer Sajin Major Assefa Mezgebu told The Daily Monitor that the accident was caused by a passenger bus which was in its way to Harrar.
The officer confirmed that the bus driver was new to the vehicle he was driving at the scene.
Assefa said more details of the smash are under investigation.
Getaneh Zewde, a heavy truck driver involved in the accident, was on his way to west driving two tankers full petroleum truck from Sudan when he heard a powerful clatter from his back and decided to stop his vehicle tough.
While stopping, Getaneh said he saw a blue passenger bus crashing and throwing small automobiles and minibuses, some of those, according to the driver, were, for his surprise, flying up in the sky.
It was at that moment that he has learnt his truck was also involved in the crash after the blue bus, heave a minibus taxi which carries school children, collided with it, to end the accidents scene by making the minibus taxi sandwiched amid the two heavy vehicles.
"It could have been even worse if the bus would have hit me direct, for I was carrying very dangerous liquid in my tankers," Getaneh said on the potential, but escaped, risk of being caught by fire after the impact.
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