POLICE at Otjozondjupa are appealing for public assistance to identify a female passenger who died in an accident between Okahandja and Otjiwarongo on Friday afternoon.
The woman and the driver of the vehicle in which she was travelling died on the spot when it collided head-on with a truck. They were the only occupants in the Ford Bantam that was travelling from Okahandja towards Otjiwarongo. The accident happened about 51 km from Otjiwarongo at about 17h00.
According to the Otjozondjupa police spokesperson, warrant officer Maureen Mbeha, the Bantam collided head-on with a Scania haulage truck.
The driver of the Bantam was identified after police sought the help of Natis to trace the identity of the vehicle’s owner, who happened to be the father of the driver.
According to the police, the driver had taken his father’s car without permission and drove from Swakopmund to Okahandja, and then towards Otjiwarongo.
“We gathered that he took the car without permission and drove to Okahandja, where he picked up a woman, believed to be his girlfriend, and they drove towards Otjiwarongo,” Mbeha stated, while imploring members of the public with a missing adult female relative to contact the Otjozondjupa police.
Meanwhile, a baby died on Friday night after the shack where she and her family were sleeping caught fire at Nau-Aib, Okahandja. Otjozondjupa police said Elries Eises died of burns at the scene.
Her father, Michael Gao (58), mother Patricia Eises (28) and two siblings escaped with various degrees of injuries, and are being treated at the Okahandja State Hospital, where they are said to be in a stable condition.
