A commercial truck driver was arrested after a collision with a motorcycle that killed two people in South Sudan’s Lakes State, police said Thursday.
The crash occurred Tuesday in the Panawac Payam area of Rumbek East County.
According to police inspector Mabor Turic, the truck was traveling from Aweil in Northern Bahr el Ghazal to the capital, Juba, when it collided with a motorcycle heading to the state headquarters.
The two passengers on the motorcycle died at the scene, Turic told Radio Tamazuj. He said the truck was heavily loaded with groundnuts and other goods, but no one in the vehicle was injured.
“The vehicle driver is now under detention in police custody for investigation,” Turic said.
While the inspector initially stated the truck was on the correct side of the road and blamed the motorcycle for causing the accident, he also cited speeding as a general cause of crashes in the area.
He urged traffic officers to raise awareness about speed limits, noting that some sections of the road are not smooth for motorists.
“The cause of this accident was due to overspeeding,” Turic said. “That side of the road is in a good condition, but vehicles and motorcycles want to use overspeed in that particular place and that’s why sometimes vehicles collide.”