Rombo residents bid farewell to Korogwe accident victims

Kilimanjaro. A sombre mood engulfed the Huruma Hospital grounds in Rombo Kilimanjaro yesterday where residents bade farewell to 12 people who died in a recent car accident in Tanga.

So far, the death toll from the accident has risen to 20 after two more people were reported dead late on Saturday. The accident, which happened on Friday night at Korogwe, Tanga, was a head-on collision involved a lorry and a bus ferrying 26 mourners and a dead body to Kilimanjaro Region for burial.

The 12, who whose bodies were laid to rest yesterday, belong to the Mrema family.

Speaking yesterday, the Member of Parliament for Rombo, who also doubles as the Education minister Prof Adolf Mkenda, said the accident has taught Tanzanians a lesson that it was not good for members of a single family to travel in a single vehicle.

“We told that accidents are unavoidable but we can plan to avoid them, and let this incident serve as a reminder not to travel in the same vehicle with all of our family members during family trips,” he said, adding that the scars left by the deaths of the family members were too big to handle.

The Regional Commissioner for Kilimanjaro, Mr Nurdin Babu said the loss of 20 people in the accident has left the community devastated.

“We are deeply saddened….We need God’s guidance for patience for this family that has lost many relatives at the once,” said RC Babu.

Additionally, the Regional Commissioner urged drivers to be cautious on the road because fatal accidents that kill multiple people at once are devastating to the nation and destroy its workforce.

“When you are carrying a large number of people, you have to go slowly and follow the road signals… Ignoring those signs and signals is what brings us a lot of problems like what has brought us here today,” he said.

Speaking about the sad event residents of Rombo District expressed their distraught on the occurrence of the tragic event.

“We have never heard of anything like this. This event has really surprised us, look, there is one family digging five graves, others two, others three. In fact this is an event of the century, it has never happened before in this district,” said one Hendry Peter.

According to the family the bodies of the remaining family members will be buried today at Mengwe, Keryo, Shimbi, Himo and Kilema area. The accident has shocked the nation and prompted calls for stern punishment to road traffic rules violators.