Three people were crushed to death in a freak accident, when logs rolled off a moving truck after its brakes failed on Thursday morning in Dawbon Township, Rangoon Division.

The brakes of the truck, with license plate number (Ah/7994), carrying the logs failed at about 11 am at the junction of Dawbon Dockyard. It hit the road divider. The logs rolled off the back of the truck and smashed into two taxis and one passerby.

The logs about two feet in diameter crushed a woman pedestrian, while she was crossing the road, and killed another woman and a man in a nearby taxi on the spot.

A traffic policeman on the spot said two of the victims were identified as Kyaw Khaing and Nu Nu Wei, husband and wife around 48 years of age. The third victim could not be identified, he said.

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The driver and two passengers in another taxi were critically injured and admitted to Rangoon General Hospital (RGH).

The truck was transporting about 30 logs, when six rolled off the truck. The truck driver took to his heels.

A Rangoon Division Traffic Disciplinary Supervision Committee official said that a similar accident occurred at the same place last year when a truck carrying logs hit a medicine shop after its brakes failed. A man was killed on the spot.