A truck loaded with 40,000 litres of fuel sank into Lake Kivu on Thursday, February 13, The New Times has learnt.

The accident took place in Nyamasheke District in the Western Province.

The truck was coming from Kigali heading to Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo).

Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Bonaventure Twizere Karekezi, the Spokesperson of Rwanda National Police (RNP) in the Western Province said the accident was a result of the driver being fatigued.

"The information is true. The driver departed from Kigali around 9:00 p.m (Wednesday) and the accident took place around 6:20 a.m. What we found out was that the driver slept along the way due to fatigue and veered off the road into the lake,” he said.

According to RNP, the driver, who was the only person in the vehicle, survived the accident and at the time of reporting, the Police were still pulling the truck from the Lake Kivu.

CIP Karekezi noted that drivers should get time to rest before driving, especially on long journeys.

He said: "As we always say, every driver especially the one about to travel a long journey should make sure that he or she takes enough rest for his or her sake and for the sake of road users in general.”

Rwanda National Police figures show that every year, they register over 5,000 road accidents that kill more than 500 people while over 2,000 survive with serious injuries and 4, 000 with minor injuries.

At least 80 percent of these accidents are caused by reckless human behavior.

The number of road accidents reduced to 4,661 cases in 2019, from 5,661 that were recorded in 2018, after the 52-week long road safety Gerayo Amahoro awareness campaign which was launched last year by RNP.