ROAD CARNAGE

 

September 29, 2008

Zululand OBSERVER

	ROAD CARNAGE Saving a life Joseph Kruger of Mounties Emergency Services (yellow reflective vest) comforts the driver of one of the vehicles while other emergency workers scramble into action. The injured man was stabilised before being airlifted to hospital Dalena van Jaarsveld and Ronelle Ramsammy TWELVE people were killed in a horror accident involving two bakkies on the N2 road at Nseleni yesterday afternoon. Bodies lay strewn across the road between the Nseleni reserve entrance and the river bridge. Emergency services were quick at the scene, but found only three critically injured survivors amidst the carnage. Two were rushed to hospital, while the third had to be freed from his vehicle's wreckage with the jaws-of-life before he was airlifted to hospital by helicopter. Among the dead was a young boy approximately five years old, who was sitting on one of the front passengers' laps. No eyewitnesses to the accident, which occurred shortly before 3pm, could be found at the scene, leaving traffic officials, emergency personnel and SAPS with only speculation as to what could have caused the fateful collision. An investigation is underway. The tyres on the one bakkie were extremely worn. Traffic was rerouted through Richards Bay for close on two hours. Another fatality was recorded in the same vicinity on Saturday when a man was killed in another accident. On the same day four family members were critically injured in Richards Bay when a bus and car collided at the Foskor intersection on the John Ross Highway, also on Saturday. The robots were reportedly defective. A bus approaching from the harbour and the car travelling from Meerensee crashed at around 2pm. Four family members in the motor vehicle – Makala, Lindani, Simosakhe and Dumisane Biyela - were immediately rushed to Ngwelezana Hospital, after emergency personnel had to use the jaws-of-life to extricate the injured passengers. None of the bus occupants were injured. A case of reckless and negligent driving is currently being investigated.