Blood flows in Franschhoek
2006-05-04
THE long weekend got off to a bloody start, when six people were tragically killed by a runaway truck in Franschhoek.
The incident occurred at approximately 17:00 on Friday afternoon, just as most people were looking forward to a peaceful long weekend.
Commuters were greeted by a bleak accident scene, as mangled vehicles and bodies were scattered across the road.
A milk tanker which was travelling between Villiersdorp and Franschhoek allegedly encountered problems with its brakes at the top of the Franschhoek Pass.
The driver, Heinrich Fourie, tried to use his gears to slow the vehicle down and managed to steer the truck to the bottom of the pass. The truck jack-knifed near the Huguenot Monument and plunged into a Toyota Venture in which a family from Bloubergstrand were travelling.
The driver, Marco Calore, was killed instantaneously and his two-year-old son, Luca, was thrown from the vehicle while strapped in his baby seat.
Luca sustained head injuries and his mother, Louisa, was also injured. The roof of the Venture was ripped off during the collision.
Thereafter the truck drove hit a bakkie which was parked next to the road, killing five farm workers seated on it, waiting to receive their wages.
They were among 15 farmworkers from Groendal who had been transported to town.
Gerald Mabetha, Tahlo Rakhomo, Tana Sethati, Motipi Moqeti and a man known as Lawson were killed.
When the truck eventually came to a stop the engine caught alight, but a passing tourist bus stopped to assist and managed to douse the flames with the fire-extinguisher of the bus.
Bodies were strewn across the road, while another 13 injured people were attended to by rescue workers from Stellenbosch and Paarl.
Heinrich had to be cut from the wreckage of the truck and was taken to Paarl Hospital with fractured ribs.
A resident of Franschhoek said that this was the bloodiest accident which had ever taken place in the village.
The police are investigating a charge of culpable homicide
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