Police officer dies in tragic accident
Providence Moyo
On Tuesday, tragedy struck the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) as one of its members, Constable Adam Mugwazo (37), lost his life in the line of duty while attending to an accident scene.
The incident occurred as Mugwazo sought shelter from the rain inside a Mahindra vehicle parked beside the trailer of a truck involved in an earlier accident. While recording statements from the parties involved, another truck approached from the opposite direction and veered off the road in an attempt to avoid the earlier accident spot. This truck then struck the Mahindra, trapping Mugwazo inside.
Despite valiant efforts by his colleagues to rescue him, Mugwazo sadly succumbed to the impact of the collision, sustaining a fatal cut to his throat. The body of the deceased officer was later retrieved with assistance from the Hwange ZRP traffic and ZPC fire brigade and taken to the Hwange Colliery Mortuary awaiting to be taken to United Bulawayo Hospital (UBH) for postmortem.
National Police Spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the tragic news to Community Podium.
“On 15 January at around 2030 hours the deceased was attending an accident that involved a truck. A colleague who was driving parked the police vehicle off road beside the trailer of the truck that had earlier had an accident. The deceased then recorded statements from the parties that were involved in the first accident whilst seated on the passenger seat. After recording, the police officer remained seated in the car. Suddenly, another truck which was being driven by a 49 year old man from Emganwini in Bulawayo approached from the western direction and veered off the road towards the position of the police vehicle whilst averting the truck that had been involved in an accident,” said Nyathi.
The incident serves as a stark reminder of the dangers faced by law enforcement officers in the execution of their duties.
