It took about four hours to pull out at least 40 people trapped in a bus, which overturned and plunged into a steep slope in Mzuzu, leaving at least five people dead and several others critically injured.
As the bus, registration number DA 4675, plunged into a river, passengers were heard screaming and wailing, eyewitness told The Daily Times.
A Malawi Defence Forces (MDF) rescue team rushed to the scene of the accident in Zolozolo Township and, for hours, tried to pull out injured passengers who were struggling for dear life.
The soldiers first tried to stabilise the extrication scene, before they moved in to pull the bus out of the river, lifting it up so that rescuers could go in and save those who were alive.
This took so much time because the slope was steep.
But after a lengthy and gruelling operation, the delay added fears that the number of passengers dead may rise to more than two.
Mzuzu Police spokesperson, Martin Bwanali, confirmed that five people had died.
But unverified eyewitness accounts indicate that more may have died in the accident because of suffocation.
The accident has shattered the city of Mzuzu because this is second horrific accident to happen within a space of six days. Last Thursday, the MDF lost recruits and their instructors when a tyre of the truck they were travelling in burst. The truck overturned and 11 people died on the spot and 10 others died in hospital, leaving a total of 21 dead.
In the latest accident, eyewitnesses said the driver of the bus,which was travelling from Mpherembe in Mzimba to Mzuzu, was trying to avoid traffic officers who had mounted a road block on the M1 Road when the accident happened.
“The bus was overloaded and overspeeding and when the bus reached Zolozolo Bridge, the driver lost control and it plunged into the river upside down,” said Mike Chiwoni who was among the first people to get to the scene of the accident.
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