Nine people died including five first-year National University of Science and Technology (NUST) students after they were involved in a road accident along the Masvingo-Mbalabala road on Thursday.
The accident occurred at around 4.30 pm when the students were travelling back to Bulawayo after attending a funeral.
The deceased are Rachel Mandiki who was doing a BSc degree in Quantity Survey, Mary Magdalene Nkala who was doing a BSc degree in Accounting, Sambulelosenkosi Nkala who was studying towards a BSc degree in Finance, Rutendo Nyangani who was studying towards a BSc degree in Quantity Survey and Masimba Mushayikwa who was studying towards a BSc degree in Accounting.
“The ZRP confirms a fatal road traffic accident in which nine people died after a Toyota Wish vehicle was involved in a head on collision with a Nissan UD truck at the 198 km peg along Masvingo –Mbalabala Road on 02/03/23 at around 1630 hours,” said the police in a statement.
The bodies of the victims were taken to Filabusi District Hospital awaiting post-mortem.
An NUST circular seen by CITE revealed that family members had been informed and three of the late students will be buried on Sunday in Masvingo while the other one will be buried in Mhondoro-Ngezi.
NUST Director of Communications and Marketing, Thabani Mpofu, said they were saddened by the incident.
“Yes it’s true, one of their colleague had lost a parent and they accompanied her for the burial. On their return they had an accident and five of them passed away,” said Mpofu.
“What actually pains us as a University is that these students were first-year students who were just starting their University life so it’s a loss not only to the family but a loss also to the nation because these were the people who had just started their different careers and they were obviously going to contribute to the development of the nation.”
