Free booze at accident scene

Dozens of people looted the scene of a near-fatal accident between Otavi and Tsumeb this weekend after hundreds of bottles of cider had spilled onto the road from a truck involved in the accident.
However, authorities and a trucking company say the alleged looters were helping themselves to leftover stock that could not be salvaged and was left after the trucking company had recovered what they could.
Lawyer Norman Tjombe caught the looting on camera when he drove past late Sunday afternoon, describing the sight of dozens of passers-by grabbing bottles and stashing them in their cars as “really embarrassing”.
Tjombe, who arrived at approximately 16:00, after most police officers had left the scene, said “it was really bad.”
A video he shot shows dozens of people grabbing bottles, piling them up and carrying them to their cars, while several people wearing NamPol reflective vests looked on.
Tjombe said when he arrived there was of a “huge commotion of people” and several police officers were “directing the traffic past the scene. There were many people there, looting and taking bottles that were not broken to their cars. The police were doing nothing.”
However, spokespeople for the police and the trucking company said the police took control of the scene soon after the crash, in addition to a private security company called there to protect undamaged stock.
“We immediately organised security to be dispatched to the scene, and the police made sure that any bottles taken from the scene were confiscated,” a spokesperson at Imperial Cargo Namibia said yesterday.
He added that a police officer, who arrived at the scene shortly after the crash, had taken control of the scene and prevented theft of unbroken bottles of cider.
NamPol Deputy Commissioner Edwin Kanguatjivi confirmed that a senior off-duty police officer happened to drive past soon after the accident, “and he made sure people did not loot. He was there until the truck arrived that was sent to clean the scene up.”
“They sent another truck and took what was not damaged and the rest was left there and people could help themselves,” he added.
Kanguatjivi denied any wrongdoing by police at the scene.
Tjombe yesterday claimed that he saw one officer, dressed in a NamPol reflective vest, who appeared to take part in the looting.
He said the man was seen carrying bottles to a car. “He handed them through the window to someone in the car and then walked back and got some more.”
He said afterwards, when he shared the photos and his thoughts on the matter on social media, he was shocked by the response of the majority of people “who sort of saw nothing wrong with this.”
According to a source the accident took place when a bakkie, coming from the opposite direction, suddenly swerved into the truck’s lane.
The truck driver sustained minor injuries while the driver of the bakkie sustained serious injuries. Overall, the long weekend claimed the lives of eight people, and 154 sustained injuries in a total of 59 crashes in three days. According to the Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund, mass casualties on Namibian roads remain a “daunting concern”.
The MVA noted that while the past week’s accident statistics showed a downturn in injuries and crashes compared to last year, fatalities increased by 22%.
The total figures for last week showed that 11 people died, while 207 sustained injuries sustained in a total of 85 crashes.
JANA-MARI SMITH