An accident on the N17 on Tuesday at 6.25am, cost a man his life and left another with serious injuries.
A truck driver from Nu-Scotland Saagmeule in Ermelo was driving along the highway towards Johannesburg, when the straps holding the wooden beams, snapped and landed on top of a VW Caddie with two occupants.
The Caddie was travelling in the opposite direction.
The driver of the Caddie was killed on impact, but the passenger sustained serious injuries and needed to be airlifted.
According to the fireman on the scene the helicopter arrived at 7.30am, but the doctors on board had to stabilise the patient before the helicopter could take off.
Vusi Mabanga, EMPD spokesman, says the man who died is the owner of a business and the passenger was one of his employees.
The road was blocked off for most of Tuesday, to enable the owner of the Saagmeule, Bennie Bruwer and his workers to remove the beams from the highway.
Bruwer says the damage is worth R50 000.
He adds the driver of the truck was tested for alcohol on the scene, but was found to be clean.
“He is not a drinker and has been working for me for 15 years, he is a good man,” he says.
The driver claims he stopped at an intersection to check the load and the straps, but he said when he went through a dip on the N17 he felt the load moving slightly and the next minute he lost the load.
It was only when he stopped the vehicle and got out, that he noticed the damaged vehicle and its two occupants.
Bruwer says it was a freak accident and the driver will be sent for counselling.
Five hours after the accident, when the Addie was last on scene, the body of the driver was still trapped inside the vehicle which had not been removed from the middle of the highway.
At the time of publishing the highway was still closed.
