BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa – At least one person has died from an automobile accident that occurred Monday night along the highway leading to Buchanan.

Marie Daway was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident by a medical practitioner who lives in the community. The accident occurred as a result of collision between two trucks driving in the same direction from Monrovia heading to Buchanan with several people and goods on board.

The trucks were carrying both human and cargo, including over 200 bags of rice. According to eyewitnesses, the yellow truck being operated by Varfee Kamara hit the white truck operated by Luseni Dukuly from the left while overtaking to avoid a heavy plume of smoke produced by the white truck. This resulted in the white truck veering off the road while the yellow truck fell over, obstructing traffic.

Eyewitness said the yellow truck had about 20 to 30 persons aboard, with some sitting on the top of the truck; the white truck was carrying no more than 10 persons. Passengers sustained a range of injuries, including broken hands and legs and cuts to the face and other body parts.

Most of the goods were damaged as they became dispersed under the heavy rain.

The victims were transported to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Medical Center in Monrovia. Even though Buchanan was closer, the injured passengers could not be sent there as the Liberian Government Hospital in Buchanan had recently been damaged by two consecutive fires.

Police from the Owengrove Checkpoint were on the scene fairly quickly. They helped to protect the salvaged goods and removed the truck from the road to allow the passage of other vehicles.

Some residents along the Buchanan to Cotton Tree route are calling on the government to institute a plan that will improve safety on that stretch of the road. Moses Willo, a resident of Doewein, where the accident took place, said accidents along the road is a cause of fear for residents.

“Every day, there is news of an accident along this road,” he said. “I think this is getting worse and [the] government needs to do something.”

Featured photo by Sampson David