Drivers should rest well, says Kintwa

 A HEALTH executive has suggested that drivers of vehicles carrying members of the public must take proper rest and avoid over-working themselves.

Western Highlands provincial health authority chief executive officer Dr James Kintwa was responding to the tragic accident in which 24 of the 33 passengers travelling on a 25-seater PMV bus died after the bus ran off a road in Western Highlands.

He said there had been accidents involving 25-seater buses before but never one where the dead came from the same village or were all related.

Kintwa said police investigations would reveal what happened. 

But he suggested that for the safety of the travelling public, bus drivers working the night shift should take at least a day’s rest before returning to work.

He said the vehicles too should be given a break and be properly maintained.

The accident occurred at about 9am near Murip village along the Mt Hagen-Baiyer River last Tuesday.

The vehicle went off the road and down a steep slope. 

The passengers were all from the Epilka tribe and were travelling from Baiyer River to Kagamuga Airport to pick up a dead body being flown from Port Moresby. 

Police said 23 passengers died instantly while the driver died later at the Mt Hagen provincial hospital. Another two people died in the hospital a day later.

Kintwa said there was a similar accident involving a 25-seater bus near the Kuli Gap outside Mt Hagen years ago.

“The practice of PMV drivers driving to Lae in the day and then making a return trip to Mt Hagen in the night (tulait tulait trips) should be stopped by PMV operators and the police for the sake of public safety,” he said.

“Tulait tulait trips should cease immediately unless there is proof that a driver had rested for a maximum of eight hours as our body requires such rest to function effectively.”