THE Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has released the names of five Tynwald High School students who perished in a bus accident along Rusape-Nyanga Road on Friday.
The bus had 46 passengers and 34 were injured.
The victims are: Anesuishe Hove (14), Beyonce Guyo (15), Anita Manyuka (16), Destiny Dziva (14) and Kimberly Tarisai Mutusva (15). The 6th victim is yet to be identified by the next of kin.
According to the police, the accident happened around 7pm when the bus veered off the road and overturned at the 75km peg along Rusape-Nyanga Road near Pine Tree Hotel.
A memorial service was held at Tynwald High School yesterday with parents, teachers and other learners bidding farewell to the deceased students.
Some of the victims are expected to be buried today. The Insurance Council of Zimbabwe (ICZ) oversaw the transportation of the deceased and injured to Harare and has since paid most of the funeral expenses through First Mutual Funeral Services which was contracted by Tynwald School.
ICZ marketing and public relations manager, Ringisai Batiya told NewsDay that the bus had a public passenger liability policy but ICZ went the extra mile as part of its corporate social responsibility.
As per the Road Traffic Act, funeral or medical expenses are pegged at an equivalent of US$350 per person in the event of an accident.
“In excess of what the policy gives, we have paid US$10 000 to cover medical bills, transport for the injured students transferred back to Harare Hospital (Sally Mugabe Central Hospital) and repatriation of the bodies from Nyanga,” Batiya said.