Two people died and 33 others were injured when two taxis and three cars collided at the intersection of Black Reef Road and Grey Avenue, in Dinwiddie, at about 8.28pm on Friday.
The exact details of the cause of the accident and the preceding events will remain a subject for police investigation and comment.
Netcare 911 and ER24 paramedics responded to the scene, as well as members of the Ekurhuleni Emergency Services, from the Wadeville Fire Station.
William Ntladi, the media liaison officer from the Ekurhuleni Emergency Services, told the GCN that one of the taxis landed on its roof and two people had to be extricated from the wreckage using the Jaws of Life.
Chris Botha, the coastal media liaison for Netcare Limited, said: “Netcare 911 paramedics arrived and found accident debris and wreckage scattered over a large area, with some of the people still trapped in the twisted metal.
“After triaging the injured they found that two men had died due to the extensive injuries they had sustained, six people were critically injured and 27 others sustained injuries ranging from serious to minor.
“After all the injured were stabilised on the scene, paramedics airlifted a critically injured female to a specialised facility for further care.
“The remainder of the patients were transported by ambulance to various hospitals for the care that they required.”
I used to live in Blackreefroad. We moved in there in 1971, it was a safe Street with hardly any traffic, we could play soccer in the middle of the road. The cane the horrible nightmare of the “Taxis”, and the accidents at that robot. Before Netcare and Wadeville fire department there was only Germiston Fire station and St Johns Ambulance services. I sat on the pavement one night crying my heart out for a family, a taxi had skipped the robot, and ran into a Macsteel truck, some of the wire that was holding down steel rods came loose and one steel rod slipped of and went through the wind shield of the car behind the truck, it penetrated the woman’s heart and pinned her to her seat, luckily somebody new who she was and got the husband and the 2 kids. It was terrible, everybody was crying, she was going toe die and these babies had to say goodbye to their mommy. I lived there for many years and saw very bad accidents happen at that robot, on taxi went so fast and hit the pavement and rolled, landing in my mom’s front yard, an inch further and it would have come throuh the kitchen window, but the one with the mommy pinned in her car, I can never forget that. That is a dangerous road, as kids we called it Blackdeath Road.
Condolences to relatives of the deceased. Unfortunately, one of the deceased was a colleague of mine for and a really great person. We had known each other for over 20 years and he was a respected member of staff. Thanks too to the Din-Al-View CPF members who assisted in diverting traffic around the scene. Such a pity that some ungrateful motorists took this opportunity to verbally abuse those who were assisting.
A really tragic event.