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In Village With No Bridge, Residents Die Trying to Cross Water

Viola Elias

   JUBA , SOUTH SUDAN - Up to nine people were killed Saturday when a
   pickup truck stuffed with passengers overturned while trying to cross a
   flooded road near the South Sudanese capital, Juba.

   Stark photos of the accident in Luri village raised a question: Why did
   the driver try to cross a road that was overrun by a fast-moving stream
   -- a road that sits atop a 3-meter embankment, and thatlacks any kind
   of guardrail to protect cars that might be pushed over the edge by
   rushing waters?

   The way local residents describe it, they have no other choice. The
   bridge that once carried them over the stream collapsed in 2012. A
   concrete road was built next to the collapsed bridge but is not
   elevated enough to safely carry commuters over the water when the
   stream is running high.

   Local resident Stephen Wani said every rainy season, residents on the
   northern side of the stream are cut off from the hospital on the
   southern side. "Once our people become sick here, we will just die
   because we can't go and access health services on the other side," Wani
   said.

   So they try tocross the stream, too often without success. Luri
   residents say more than 50 people have drowned in the last three months
   alone trying to cross. Many were travelers from other areas.

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