Tanga crash: Medical officers face charges

Korogwe. The government insists that it will not forgive two public servants who have been suspended over allegations of negligence in their handling of a deadly road crash here at the weekend.

The Tanga Regional Commissioner, Mr Omary Mgumba, said yesterday that authorities in the region have formed a committee to probe the way the chief medical officers for Korogwe District Council and Korogwe Town Council conducted themselves in the handling of the subject matter.

Mr Mgumba said the two did not arrive at their respective workstations on time, thereby making it hard for emergency services—that would otherwise save the lives of some people who were injured in the accident—to be conducted swiftly.

So far, the death toll from the accident has risen to 21 after two more people were reported dead late on Saturday.

The accident, which happened on Friday night at Korogwe, Tanga, involved the collision of a lorry and a bus carrying a dead body from Dar es Salaam to Kilimanjaro Region, with 26 people on board.

“Only eight people died at the scene of the accident, while all the others died while here at the hospital. We have suspended them for 14 days so we can conduct an investigation into the matter because we believe their absence from their workstations contributed to a delay in transporting to the hospital those who were injured in the accident,” said Mr Mgumba.

Mr Mgumba’s statement followed a request from a member of the family of those who lost their lives in the accident, Honorine Momburi, who asked the government to forgive the two public servants.

Mr Mgumba, who doubles as the chairman for defense and security in Tanga Region, also directed members of the police force to look for and arrest those who turned up at the scene of the accident but instead of helping in the rescue operations, they resorted to stealing some of their belongings.

“These people must be arrested and brought to book. What they did is very wrong... They stole even food items that the deceased and the injured were in possession of as they transported the dead body for burial in Kilimanjaro before the accident occurred,” he said.

Leading a farewell mass at Korogwe Hospital, Rev. Nemes Mrema, who is also a member of the family that was transporting the dead body, commended the doctors and nurses who were present at the hospital, saying they did a wonderful job despite the absence of the hospital’s leadership.

“We also thank President Samia Suluhu Hassan for deciding that the government should take care of the burial costs. We were in a bad economic condition. We made contributions in an effort to transport the body of “our father. What would we do with those who died in the accident? We thank the government for this,” he said.