Landslide victims discharged

Four of the five victims of the weekend landslide along the SOPETRAD-Main roundabout highway in Kigali City, have been discharged from University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK), the hospital’s head has said.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Four of the five victims of the weekend landslide along the SOPETRAD-Main roundabout highway in Kigali City, have been discharged from University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK), the hospital’s head has said.

Dr. Theobald Hategekimana, told The New Times by telephone yesterday that the remaining patient was also responding positively to medication and is expected to get out of hospital soon.

The victims, all construction workers, were admitted to hospital after sustaining injuries from a landslide near SOPETRAD as they were taking part in the ongoing exercise to erect a concrete wall against the road.

However, the construction at SOPETRAD is going on smoothly, and according to some workers at the site, safety measures have been improved to prevent the accident from recurring.

"Safety measures as well as on-site supervision have drastically improved” one of the workers said on condition of anonymity.

Kigali City Council officials say the stone wall will help prevent landslides along the road in the future.

The move is part of a broader strategy to curtail roadside accidents such as the one that claimed three lives when a tree fell on a passengers’ vehicle, near Parliamentary Buildings, Kimihurura, over a month ago.

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