Truck driver dies
2006-09-07
A LONG-DISTANCE truck driver of Paarl was killed in a horror head-on collision in the Langkloof last weekend.
André van Wyk (49) of Main Street, Paarl South, was transporting a load of wine in a tanker from Paarl to Port Elizabeth on Saturday morning when the accident occurred.
Due to the closure of the Kaaimans River Pass outside Wilderness to heavy vehicles, van Wyk was forced to take the alternative route through the Langkloof.
According to his son-in-law, Nelius Alberts, a truck transporting cars was overtaking another vehicle, when the truck crashed into van Wyk’s tanker.
Both trucks fell over and came to a halt 100 metres from each other, scattering debris across the road.
The cabin of van Wyk’s truck was ripped off the body of the tanker. He died on impact.
Van Wyk had been employed by Tanker Services in Brackenfell for more than twelve years.
According to a former colleague, Stephen de Villiers, van Wyk was an extremely experienced driver who had a spotless safety record.
“The Langkloof road is extremely narrow and dangerous for heavy vehicles, and trucks have to squeeze past each other.”
He is survived by his wife Magda, a son Jaco (11), and daughters Yvette Alberts and Rina Reid.
The funeral service takes place on Friday at 14:00 in the NGK Paarl South.
* In another horror accident on the N1 outside Paarl, four adults and a baby lost their lives when their vehicle crashed into a bus.
The Toyota Camry was travelling in the direction of Klapmuts, when the driver presumably lost control of the vehicle, crashing through the central barrier before plummeting into the bus.
The driver of the Camry, Jonathan Damon (42), was killed instantly, along with passengers, Melanie Mert (20), her twenty- month-old baby Jemelia, and two sisters, Jo-Anne (30) and Vanessa Smit (18). All the passengers were from Ravensmead.
Another passenger, Daphné Abrahams, miraculously survived the crash with only light injuries.
* An unidentified man was killed when he walked in front of an oncoming vehicle in Klein Drakenstein Road on Saturday evening.
The incident occurred at 19:30 near the Church of the Latter Day Saints when the man, according to eye-witnesses, stumbled in front of a silwer Audi.
The deceased has not yet been identified. Phone insp Roger Dysan at 807-4111.
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