road accident

Reports reaching Loop PNG from a reliable source say that the casualty toll has been put at 20 with 13 confirmed dead while seven are in Intensive Care Unit at the Popondetta General Hospital.

According to Ramsay Afo in Popondetta, the PMV was travelling from Kokoda to Popondetta and the oil palm fruit truck travelling towards Kokoda at a high speed.

Afo, who was at the Popondetta General Hospital, told Loop PNG that the casualties might increase.

The fruit truck belongs to the Higaturu Oil Palms.

The badly ridden mother had to take the body back home in what has been described as a very sad scenario by those present at the hospital on Wednesday.

Calls for safer driving have now been made to commuters along the Bougainville trunk road from Buin to Arawa then to Buka.

The accident that happened along the highway according to eye witnesses, was  caused by loose gravel and excessive speed.

People have now appealed to police for tougher traffic regulations especially for unlicensed drivers and drunk driving.

According to Nine-Mile police, the bus driver lost control of the vehicle while trying to give way to a fast-moving vehicle but ran it straight off the main highway into a drain nearby.

Witnesses who were at the scene described the bus as being old and should not be used to transport passengers to avoid these situations.

Police said although the bus capsised into the drain with passengers on board, no one was hurt or injured.

The passengers were pulled out of the bus and the bus was removed from the drain later.

The man was hit by a speeding truck while trying to cross the road along the freeway near SP Brewery at around 3pm today.

Police report that the identity of the victim is still unknown, as well as the driver of the truck, who immediately fled the scene.

Police arrived minutes after the tragic accident and questioned eyewitnesses.

The police officers told the crowd to move away from the scene and tried to control the traffic as best as they could.

An accident involving two 15 seater buses at the Hohola round about was the cause of the jam that stretched from the Taurama roundabout

Right to the roundabout at Hohola.

Police were on the scene as were passengers of both buses.

It’s not known yet if there were any injuries but by 0830, the vehicle disrupting flow of traffic was still to be towed to the side.

The incident on California's Pacific Coast Highway left eight people injured, and resulted in the death of one woman.

Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Nicole Nishida said investigators have concluded that Jenner's driving was "unsafe for the prevailing road conditions" (via The AP).

The department also presented an account of what happened, saying that Jenner, driving a Cadillac Escalade and hauling an off-road vehicle behind, tried to avoid cars slowing down for a traffic light.

One mother said her son lied to her earlier in the day when he said he was going to Vision City to meet some friends.

The first policeman at the scene of the accident who accompanied the students to the Port Moresby General Hospital believes the more than ten students; both male and female may have told their parents and guardians the same story.

They believe the students, all from the Port Moresby International High School, met at Vision City and got on a PMV bus they hired for an “outing” at Sogeri.

Two of them have been admitted while four were taken to Pacific International Hospital by their families. Another four were treated and released.

Most of the students are believed to be between grades 9 -12.

Early reports online spoke of possubly two or more deaths in the accident but these could not be confirmed tonight. However LOOP News was told by a  hospital worker that one student died and was taken to the morgue.

“I say this because I took the principal there to identify the body,” he says. This could not be verified tonight.