Six members of the Press Unit staff from the Warrap State governor’s office were involved in a car accident last Wednesday in Mapel town, near Tonj South County while accompanying the governor to his elder brother’s funeral in Tonj South County.
Among those involved was Daniel Mareng Wek, State Coordinator for the Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS) and SSBC Warrap correspondent. The accident left Wek with a broken left hand. He is currently admitted to the Chinese Hospital in Wau.
William Wol, Warrap State Spokesperson, told Radio Tamazuj Thursday that the accident occurred when the governor’s convoy was en route from Wau to Tonj South for the funeral. The media team’s vehicle slid into a culvert and overturned at Mapel junction in Western Bahr El Ghazal State, just two kilometres away from Tonj town, he said.
Wol further detailed, “After hearing this news, the convoy stopped, and the injured staff were taken back to the Chinese Hospital in Wau.” In addition to Wek, the Acting Press Secretary in the Office of the Governor, the Governor’s Private Secretary, and the Director for the Confidential Office in the Office of the Governor also sustained injuries.
Daniel Mareng Wek, who was involved in the accident, shared his account with Radio Tamazuj, saying, “It was in the evening when we were heading to Tonj South. On our way, our car lost control and it overturned, and all of us got injured. My left hand has a bone fracture. This is what I could remember, and we are now admitted at the Chinese Hospital in Wau.”