On the evening of January 22, a truck with a double trailer careered out of control down Comaro Street, Glenvista Extension 4, carrying thousands of bottles of sunflower oil, being transported for the Government of Botswana, which was not for resale.
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The truck, according to an eyewitness, actually took off into the air at the bottom of Comaro Street, corner Donington Drive, smashing into the river and the opposite side of its bank. The cabin of the truck became embedded, with the possible entrapment of the truck driver.
First on the scene were local CPF members who immediately contacted Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) Emergency Medical Services and the City of Johannesburg Fire Department, who headed to the accident scene.
Local residents played a huge part in assisting the GPG Emergency Medical Services and the City of Joburg Fire Department.
“I heard a huge bang and immediately got into my car, driving around the corner to see what had happened,” said Jason Moore, a resident of Vickery Avenue, Glenvista Ext 4. “I began digging with my hands to remove the carnage and to try and find the driver.”
Gerhard Smit, incident commander of GPG Emergency Medical Services, and Christopher Morris, also from GPG Emergency Medical Services, both said: “We thank all the local residents who came to assist in removing rubble and boxes and boxes of sunflower oil to enable the recovery team to try and locate the driver of the truck. Without their help, this would have taken very much longer.”
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Carl Buys from Capital Air Recovery, who was on the scene with his team, added: “This is a huge rescue operation and many hands have made our jobs easier in trying to recover the driver.” JMPD members were also in attendance.
It’s alleged the truck had been hijacked. The owner of the truck was informed of the accident and was coming to the scene from Zeerust. At the time of going to press it wasn’t confirmed if the truck driver had survived the accident or not.
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