Family makes lucky escape after tree falls on vehicle

Momase

A family of six narrowly escaped death when a tree fell on their vehicle at Zifasing village in Morobe in the early hours of last Sunday.
One man was injured and taken to a hospital in Lae city while the driver and four others were unharmed but shaken.
Witness Joras Gibson of Zifasing village said the family was travelling overnight from Jiwaka to Lae in a 10-seater Toyota Landcruiser when the incident happened.
He said they stopped over at 40-Mile market at around 3.30am and were continuing on to Lae when the rain tree which stood about 300m away from the market, fell on the running vehicle.
Gibson said villagers assisted and took out the family members trapped in the vehicle.
Dr Alex Peawi at the accidents and emergency section of Angau Memorial General Hospital in Lae said the injured person may have been taken to a private hospital in Lae as they had not received any casualties.
“It was raining with not many vehicles on the road and they were trapped,” said Gibson.
“They were all shocked when we came and started clearing tree branches to take them out.”
He said a semi-trailer was used to pull away the branches of the fallen tree.
Traffic was held for three hours until 6am when a space was created for vehicles to pass through and villagers to cleared the rest of the tree using bush knives and axes.