Death on the highway
2007-09-06
BODIES were stuck under a taxi and others strewn all over the N1 outside Paarl after a horrific accident on Sunday afternoon.
A shattered rear tyre on the overturned blue Cape Town taxi was clear evidence of what had occurred seconds before the taxi driver lost control at 12:30.
According to the driver, Ayanda Mbemba of Nyanga, he heard a bang and felt the vehicle swerve.
The taxi overturned and his passengers were flung from the vehicle as it slid for more than 20m before coming to a halt in the middle of the highway between Klapmuts and Paarl.
Emergency services and police officials rushed to the scene.
While an uninjured Mbemba stood next to the road, the body of a woman lay on the tarmac only metres away, mutilated and covered by a blanket.
The taxi had to be hoisted up before paramedics could wrestle another woman from under the wreck.
By the time she was freed, it was too late to save her life.
The taxi guard, a 13-year-old boy, was rushed to Tygerberg Hospital with serious injuries while the other 13 passengers were stabilised on the scene and taken to hospital.
They were all treated for multiple injuries, abrasions and shock.
Trembling and bleeding, the men and women searched amid the wreckage to find their personal belongings.
They told of how they had boarded the taxi at the rank in Nyanga and Khayelitsha, all of them en route to Mbekweni.
Some were to visit friends, others to see sick relatives and some to attend a church service.
“We could never have imagined the day would end like this,” an elderly man whispered while asking onlookers for a drink of water.
The highway remained partly closed for two hours, while a police forensic team examined the scene and then cleared the debris.
A case of culpible homicide, as well as allegations that the taxi has a score of outstanding fines, is being investigated.
More
News
|
