Multiple passengers sustained injuries when the minibus taxi they were travelling in collided with a truck on Commissioner Street near Elsburg Road in Boksburg, just after 13:00 on June 5.
The Advertiser arrived at the scene and noticed that there were no visible damages on the truck, but the taxi was badly damaged and an elderly woman was along with the driver trapped in the taxi after the crash. Rescue personnel from Boksburg Fire Station had to use the Jaws of Life to get the trapped driver and passengers out of the vehicle.
Even those who managed to alight on their own from the wrecked kombi, en route to Germiston from Boksburg, were seen lying on the side of the road bleeding as a result of the injuries suffered. Parts from the shattered front of the taxi lay all over the road.
The driver of the super-link truck was, however, not hurt.
The Advertiser understands that the injured were treated at the scene by paramedics before various ambulances transported them to hospitals in Boksburg and Germiston.
The road remained closed for a few hours as paramedics and other emergency services personnel were busy helping the injured passengers and clearing the debris.
City of Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services (DEMS) spokesperson, William Ntladi, said the cause of the crash is not yet determined, but investigations are still underway.
Bystanders at the scene claimed that the truck was turning into Commissioner Street coming from the nearby mineshaft, the southern part of the road.
“Judging from part of the ruck where the taxi collided with it, I’d say most of the truck had already made a left turn into the eastbound lane, but its most rear part was still on the westbound lane,” speculated one of the bystanders, who asked to remain anonymous.
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“As there are no visible scratch marks to indicate that the approaching taxi applied brakes, I think its driver miscalculated the time it would take for the remaining part of the truck to get on the other side before his taxi reaches the spot. That’s how it appears to me.”
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