Inferno victims’ final lap

30 Apr, 2017 - 00:04 0 Views
Inferno victims’ final lap The coffin with the three victims's remains being lowered into the grave at the Glen Forest cemetry.

The Sunday Mail

Debra Matabvu
They congregated around one giant coffin full of charred human remains, their bosoms heavy with grief.

The strangers had become family in weeks, connected by three deaths and one burial.Their countenances bore doleful expressions as they accompanied their loved ones on the final lap to the after-life.

Three weeks earlier, three of their own and 28 others had been killed in an inferno following a collision of their South Africa-bound bus and a haulage truck.

Mr Sinas Soko

Mr Sinas Soko

Mr Sinas Soko, Ms Nyarai Warikandwa and Mr Tawanda Zimuto were burnt so extensively that Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) tests failed to piece together significant components of their identities.

Their families eventually resolved to bury them in one grave after enduring long nights of trepidation, despair and anguish.“People say they saw him trapped between the haulage truck trailer and the bus. That is where he was screaming and wailing from until he breathed his last. All we want is closure, that’s why we’ve resorted to a mass burial,” said Ms Emilia Toma, Mr Zimuto’s sister.

 

Mr Tawanda Zimuto

Mr Tawanda Zimuto

April 26 – the day of the mass burial – was particularly chilly, with gusts of wind throwing up enough dust to blur one’s vision.Dark clouds formed over Harare, foretelling the coming of rains.

Tears flowed down several cheeks as the Heavens appeared to hold back the inevitable precipitation.Bursts of wails interjected dirges as mourners gathered at the capital city’s Glen Forest Memorial Park to witness the remains’ interment.

It was a dreary day with palpable emotion.   Members of the three families consoled and tried to keep each other strong.

Ms Nyarai Warikandwa

Ms Nyarai Warikandwa

Yet the pain of losing their loved ones, moreso under gruelling circumstances, kept gnawing at them until some buckled, eventually letting out tears.

Ms Toma believes her 38-year-old brother had a premonition.Referring to him as her “sister”, she opened up to The Sunday Mail on their tight-knit relationship and how the episode has left her traumatised.

“No one understood me the way he did,” she recounted, trying to muffle sobs.“We were so close, there was nothing I kept from him. He was like my sister. He was a driver with Proliner Bus Company and was staying at my home in Manresa, that’s how close we were.

“On the morning of the accident, I had asked him to accompany me to church for morning prayers. We were supposed to get there at six o’clock, but eventually got there at nine o’clock, prompting me to seek leave from work for two hours.”

Ms Toma continued: “We later had breakfast after which I folded some of his clothes as he bathed. He put on brand new clothes and even asked me to help him remove the price-tags. At that point, he stared at the shoe rack and said, ‘These shoes are too many. I could have given you a pair or two if you were male.’

“I didn’t respond. I got agitated as he kept fixing himself up, delaying me further. He requested to drive me to work and I obliged.”However, the left rear tyre burst as the two approached Harare’s central business district.

“I was beside myself as I was late for work. Tawanda then gave me busfare while he remained behind to attend to the problem with a mechanic. He, however, changed his mind, and we ended up getting into town together in a kombi.

“When we got to Road Port, he placed his hand on my chest, and said: ‘Okay big sis, chiendai kubasa. Tobatana pafone.’ They were travelling to South Africa and he was the relief driver on the day.

“However to my surprise, he called around 2 pm telling me to go and get his car and follow their bus which had already pulled out of Road Port. It seems he did not want to leave me and just wanted to see me. I caught up with the bus at ‘Mbudzi’ and that was it.

“I’m told that when he got on the bus, he headed to the back seat to rest for a while. But seconds before he could take the wheel near Mvuma, tragedy struck.”

Mr Soko’s sister, Mrs Sheba Zhange, shares her grief.

“I had last seen him in 2016 and was supposed to meet with him on that day when the accident occurred. However, I got into town a bit late as my university lecture ended a bit late.

“There was no way he could have survived. He was one of the first people to be hit by the trailer. I’m sure the impact was too much. Fire from the truck, bus and tyres burnt him for hours. This was his way of dying. I know I have my own unique way of dying, and so does everyone else.”

But there is no closure for Mr Felix Mambo, Ms Warikandwa’s husband.

“We are based in South Africa and Nyarai had come to Zimbabwe to visit. I spoke to her around 20:44 hours when they had just passed Mvuma and told her I would call her again later. But I could not reach her after that as her phone was on voicemail.

“I then called my mother-in-law the following morning to determine the busliner she had used and that’s when I learnt of the accident.

“Some passengers had managed to escape the inferno, but Nyarai had not.”

Mr Mlambo went on: “I did not understand it all. I came to Zimbabwe immediately, heading straight to Gweru Provincial Hospital. Some families managed to get the remains of their loved ones and we were among the unfortunate ones.

“However, we appreciate what Government did in working diligently to identify the bodies. I can’t say I’m 100 percent at peace because life after losing someone you have been with for 11 years is not easy. Someone who goes without saying good-bye and you do not see anything. . .That proves or shows that they are really dead. It’s painful. Only God can give me comfort and peace.”

 

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