By A Correspondent- One person died on the spot when the Skyline – Chimanimani highway gave into shaking caused by incessant rains just as a vehicle was passing.

The road collapse happened just after Charter Bridge.

Late November last year, President Emmerson Mnangagwa officially commissioned the Skyline – Chimanimani highway following a post Cyclone Idai disaster reconstruction work by a local contractor.

The highway, which has since survived recent tropical storms, however collapsed after Charter Bridge, resulting in the death of a person who was driving to Chimanimani.

Witnesses described what they believed happened and how the car wreckage was retrieved.

Meanwhile, Manicaland Provincial Roads Engineer Atherton Zindoga attributed the collapse to the incessant rains being received in the district and dismissed speculations of poor workmanship by the contractor.

“There was an upstream river which changed its course of flow and forced its way underneath the road surface resulting in the collapse. The contractor did not work on this section because it was not affected what they just did was surfacing,” he explained.

Engineer Zindoga conveyed his condolences to the deceased’s family.

“Our heartfelt condolences to the deceased’s family. As a ministry we are going to lobby for resources to monitor and inspect our roads so that if preventable, such incidents should not happen again and claim lives,” said Zindoga.

Meanwhile, completion of yet another road still under construction in the province, the Jopa-Kopa highway   has been delayed as a result of the incessant rains which are now causing landslides and diverting the flow of a number of rivers.

-zbc