Madagascar: COLLISION IN MAHAZO – Five occupants of an ambulance narrowly escape death

The ambulance was reduced to a pile of scrap metal following a violent collision with a garbage truck in Mahazo. All its occupants were injured.

Once again, drunk driving is to blame. A horrific head-on collision occurred on the road in Mahazo on Tuesday night, involving an ambulance and a garbage truck. Eyewitnesses attribute most of the blame to the driver of the hospital vehicle.

The assessment by the gendarmes at the Soamanandrariny outpost confirms that he was intoxicated. He and his four passengers were injured in the accident. “He was not transporting any sick person. All five are still in the emergency department at this hour. Two of them have been admitted to the military hospital (note: Soavinandriana Center Hospital or Cenhsoa). The other three were taken to HJRA (note: Joseph Ravoahangy Andrianavalona Hospital),” explains a gendarme who participated in the evacuation of the victims, including two women. According to information gathered, the ambulance had already been involved in an accident near Météo where it had collided with a Peugeot 106. The driver of the latter fled.

Polytraumatized

The car tried to chase it to Mahazo, where it finally ended up crashing into the truck of the Municipal Sanitation Company (SMA). The ambulance was completely damaged. Was it the result of the brutality and impact of the collision? It was nothing more than a pile of scrap metal, stuck at the head of the garbage bin. Its condition required the intervention of a recovery vehicle to be removed from the scene of the tragedy. The gendarmes and witnesses quickly rescued the injured. The driver, sandwiched, had to be extricated.

The medical teams took care of polytraumatized patients. They did not wish to communicate about their life prognosis.

“We will send the case to the prosecutor’s office,” said the gendarmerie. An investigation has been opened regarding this bodily injury accident, in which aggravating circumstances are involved, clearly engaging responsibilities.

Hajatiana Léonard