‘It’s a miracle no one died’

By Ilia L. Likou 05 May 2017, 12:00AM

An eyewitness of a horrific smash at Puipa’a at the beginning of the week has expressed disbelief about how no one died when a dyna truck carrying more than 10 people crashed.

The man who wants to be identified as Paulo said what happened can only be described as a miracle.

“With that many people on the truck, it could have been very deadly,” he said. “But how they all survived is a miracle. I thank God.”

The truck belongs to a local company at Vaitele and was heading towards Faleolo to drop off some of their workers.

Paulo said the crash happened so quickly.

“It was around half past six to seven o’clock on Monday evening,” Paulo said.

“My family was getting ready for our evening prayers when we heard people shouting and then a loud bang after, right in front of our house.

“I thought to myself, oh my God, this is scary because it was too close to our house.

 “So we cancelled our lotu and we just ran out curious.

“When we got there we saw that a truck loaded with people had crashed on the side of the road. It stopped about 30 metres from the road.” 

Paulo said a child was inside when the truck crashed.

He blamed speed.

“To be honest, I felt very disappointed, I mean a four-year-old-boy was inside the truck, the driver should have slowed down. It was also wet.”

The family contacted the Police and emergency services.

 “The ambulance took the four year old to the hospital that evening...hopefully he’s doing fine.”

Paulo said the truck had overtaken another vehicle when the accident happened. It smashed their fence.

“I don’t care how much money it costs to fix some of the damages but at least no one died. This is something everyone should think about.”

He added that perhaps the driver was tired.

“If the driver was tired, he could have stopped for a rest or let someone else drive.”

The crash could have been worse though.

“It was lucky because they nearly crashed into the high voltage box that belongs to Bluesky. I thank God that didn’t happen.

“If it happened I think many of them would have been electrocuted.”

Paulo used the opportunity to call for caution.

“We have to be careful all the time and take care of ourselves,” he said. “Always remember to say a prayer to the Man Above for protection before heading out and heading home everyday.”

By Ilia L. Likou 05 May 2017, 12:00AM
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