Three perish in drink drive crash (Fiji live news, Sept 01)

[koro]

Three people from the same clan in Fiji including a 16-year-old have died in a single vehicle road accident in the early hours of today.

Four others were also on the three-tonne truck when it went off the road, into a ditch and slammed into a rain tree at the Nacovi junction near the western city of Lautoka at about 5am.

All seven were of the same clan in Calcutta Street, Lautoka.

Police Director Traffic, Assistant Superintendent Mahesh Mishra said while the post-mortem examination was yet to be carried out, witnesses had confirmed that all the people on the truck were drunk.

The 25-year-old driver and the 16-year-old died instantly. Another passenger in the rear of the truck died on arrival at Lautoka Hospital.

The road death toll now stands at 37 compared to 28 for the same period last year.

A woman in her thirties died in another car crash in Nausori on Monday.

Mishra told FijiLive that the fact that four lives had been claimed on Fiji’s roads within days showed that speeding and drink driving were the major causes of road accidents in the country.

“People are careless and compromise on safety” he said.

“Most accidents are due to driver negligence. They are not adhering to road safety rules.”

By Richard Naidu