NFA has responded to 18 RAR emergency calls so far this year

The National Fire Authority rescue team have responded to 18 Road Accidents Rescue emergency calls so far since the beginning of this year compared to 23 RAR calls for the same period last year (up until the end of February).

This comes after the latest incident in Waimalika, Sabeto, Nadi earlier this week.

NFA Chief Executive Officer Puamau Sowane expressed concern at the rising number of road accidents.

Sowane says the loss of lives and loved ones to road accidents can be avoided if road users are courteous and follow defensive driving and road safety practices, always.

NFA says the Nadi Fire Station received a call via the National Fire Authority (NFA) Command Centre at 1.04pm on Monday reporting a road accident at Waimalika, Sabeto, which is outside the fire boundary.

They say the on-duty crew responded immediately with two trucks and seven duty officers and was also assisted by the Lautoka Fire Station crew and their rescue truck.

They add on arrival at the scene at 1.19pm, officers noticed a Toyota Corolla private car in a head-on collision with a twin cab Hilux.

NFA says the officers noticed that the driver of the Toyota vehicle was badly injured and trapped inside the vehicle.

They promptly extricated the driver from the mangled car and transported him to Lautoka Hospital along with the driver of the Hilux Twin cab vehicle.

The NFA rescue response team found out that there were initially four passengers in the Toyota vehicle and by the time they arrived at the scene three had been transported to hospital.

Sowane is urging all motorists to exercise caution when driving on the roads, especially if they have passengers.