The two overloaded 25-seat buses crashed head-on in the Markham Valley in Morobe Province, on PNG’s northeast coast, on Tuesday.
Both buses were left mangled wrecks as nearby villagers helped emergency services recover dead bodies and rescue the injured, many thrown some distance from the crash site.
Morobe Assistant Police Commissioner Giossi Labi described it as one of the worst accidents he had seen.
“Drivers need to slow down. Many are racing against time to squeeze in more trips for more money,” he said. “This accident appears to have occurred when both drivers tried to avoid potholes, in the process collided and caused the deaths.
“It is one of the saddest days in the history of road accidents where we have such a number of commuters die at once.”
Lae’s Angau hospital morgue was crowded as distressed relatives identified the remains of their loved ones.
Gideon Jack, 22, of Minj, in the Western Highlands Province, told PNG’s Post-Courier newspaper he was one of the lucky few to survive the crash. “I was asleep. When I woke up, I was being loaded into the back of a Dyna truck. I was bleeding and I fell back into the arms of the man carrying me,” he said.
Severe road accidents are common in PNG due to poor road conditions, dilapidated vehicles and speeding and drunk drivers.
