Magi highway crash claims duo

TWO people were killed in a nasty road accident along the Magi highway in the Central province early yesterday morning.
With Christmas tomorrow, primary school boy Vulcan Bruce will be missed by his family as his life was tragically cut short in the accident.
He was travelling with his family from their Abau village where his father, Bruce Magini, was the pastor there, towards their own village in inland Rigo for Christmas.
Late Vulcan was with his father, mother, sister, brother and their church elder and other passengers.
They were returning home because their fa­ther’s term as pastor had expired and they were going back to await the next posting.
According to Vulcan’s relatives, the driver had allegedly been drinking alcohol when he was asked to transport the Ma­gini family to their village at five in the morning.
Along the way, the truck was going at high speed when it failed to negotiate the curve at the Sivitatana junction and it spun out of control and rolled over several times.
Vulcan and the church elder were killed while eight others were injured, including the boy’s father and sister.
They were all rushed to the Port Moresby General Hospital soon after the accident.
Six of them sustained minor injuries while two were admitted to the hospital with serious injuries.
Director for Emergencies Dr Sam Yockopua said this accident would not have happened if the driver was not drunk.
He said that most of all vehicle accidents were caused by drink driving and this must stop.
He appealed to the police and the national road safety council to introduce breathalysers.
He said harsher punishment should be dished out to offenders as a deterrent.