Three dead after north Nicosia freak accident

Three people were killed and two others seriously injured on Tuesday evening after a car in the north crashed into a highway guardrail and another vehicle later collided with the wreckage.

According to Turkish Cypriot media, a car carrying foreign students from Zimbabwe, eastbound on the highway just outside north Nicosia around 8pm, crashed onto the guardrail after the driver appeared to have lost control of the steering wheel at a right bend sign.

Reports said minutes later a second vehicle was involved, after a car driven by 67-year-old Abdullah Sadik eastbound towards Nicosia collided with the wreckage.

Two male students inside the first vehicle, identified as 22-year-old driver Elliot Simbarashe Kanafema and 23-year-old passenger Dean Marufa, were killed instantly after they were forcefully ejected from the vehicle after the second impact.

A third individual, 22-year-old female Electious Vhere, who was seriously injured in the accident, died later in the Emergency Room at Burhan Nalbantoglu public hospital.

Sadik reportedly did not realize there was a car wreck in front of him, resulting in the brutal high-speed collision.

A fourth passenger in the first vehicle sustained serious injuries and was being treated in hospital, while the driver of the second vehicle was also taken to the Emergency Room.

Turkish Cypriot traffic police said they were investigating the incident.