A passenger vehicle driver was arrested after he knocked a motorcyclist and his pillion passenger dead in Maleng-agok Payam in Lakes State’s Rumbek East County on Friday morning.
The passenger vehicle was traveling from the Western Bahr el Ghazal capital Wau to Juba.
According to the police, two passengers from the public transport vehicle sustained serious injuries while jumping out of the automobile when locals tried to attack them after the accident. A local was also shot and injured in the arm by an SSPDF soldier who was trying to disperse the mob that was attacking the driver and passengers in the car.
The police spokesperson in Lakes State, Maj. Elijah Mabor Makuac, told Radio Tamazuj Friday that the accident happened between Maleng-agok and Pacong payams of Rumbek East County when a vehicle bearing number plate SSD 311 PA collided with a motorcycle.
“Upon its arrival to a place called Meen-wel, the passenger vehicle collided with a motorbike leading to the death of the rider and his passenger,” he said. “Two passengers from the vehicle tried to jump out and they sustained serious injuries. They broke their legs and they were transferred to Rumbek State Hospital.”
Maj. Mabor identified the two injured passengers as an SSPDF wounded hero, Sergeant Major Elijah Bagic Malual, and a civilian, Dok Malual Gol.
The police mouthpiece said the motorcyclist and his passenger were to Rumbek to see the wife of one of them who had delivered in hospital.
“Unfortunately, they met this tragedy before they could reach their destination,” he said.
According to Maj. Mabor, after the accident, some relatives of the deceased duo tried to attack the driver and his passengers in revenge but SSPDF soldiers on the scene intervened by shooting in the air to disperse them, injuring one person in the process.
“Unfortunately one of the attackers, Thon Abang Ker, a close relative of the people who were knocked dead, was shot and wounded in his arm,” he explained.
Mabor Abang, the passenger vehicle driver Tong Mayuen Yel, and the SSPDF soldier who discharged bullets are all currently detained for investigation.
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