Nine children have been rushed to the Port Moresby General Hospital by a St John Ambulance an hour ago following a car accident today at the popular accident hotspot – the Waigani Boulevard traffic light intersection (Somare Circuit).
According to the CEO for St John Matt Cannon, one child is in a very critical condition while others suffered injuries to some extreme.
A double cab utility vehicle carrying a group of children back from a village in the Central province swerved and bumped into another vehicle.
The children were ejected from the vehicle and thrown all over the place when the accident happened.
The CEO of St Matt Cannon and his team who were first to respond to the accident have come out strong to drivers driving open back vehicles with people sitting at the back to be wary and conscious of the way they drive.
“This is a very timely reminder that transporting people in the tray of a vehicle is very unsafe”.
“Drivers that are transporting unrestrained passengers must exercise a very high degree of care and travel slowly.”
“Travelling in a tray of vehicle is never safe and must be avoided.”
Cannon said they see a spate of serious accidents around Christmas time and most times, people with serious injuries are the ones not wearing seat belts.
“It is a traffic law in PNG that a person in a vehicle must wear seat belt if it is available.”
“There is simply no excuse for not wearing a seat belt in a passenger vehicle with seat belts fitted.”
“The message from St John is, if you have a seat belt, wear it.”
