MBOMBELA – The carnage started on Thursday when a Nissan Lavinia and a Toyota Conquest collided head-on in Schoemanskloof, killing five people.
According to the Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison’s Moeti Mmusi, one of the vehicles were travelling from Mozambique to Johannesburg, and the other from Johannesburg to Mbombela. The deceased included four occupants of the hatchback, which was heading east, and one in the SUV which was traveling west.
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The accident occurred between the Via Garage and Patatanek. The cause of the accident is unknown, pending an investigation.
In a separate, single-vehicle incident, two people were killed when the vehicle in which they were travelling hit the traffic circle at the Sasol Garage in Karino on Saturday morning. The impact caused the vehicle to roll over, killing the driver and the passenger upon impact.
According to Martin Jeffrey of Emer-G-Med, they received another call-out for an accident that occurred in KaNyamazane. “At first the call came through as an accident outside a doctor’s room, but we later discovered that the patient died due to another, unknown cause,” he said.
Again on Saturday, a pedestrian was killed on Samora Machel Drive in Mbombela. On the same day a stationary Volkswagen Golf was hit from behind by a Mahindra Pickup on the R40. “The Golf was on the right-hand side. From what we can ascertain from the scene, the Mahindra was travelling at an immense speed,” Jeffrey said.
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“The impact was so severe, the passengers from the Golf were flung from the vehicle, killing one on the scene and seriously injuring another. The driver of the Mahindra sustained minor injuries and was also taken to hospital.”
Shortly afterwards, emergency services were called out to a fifth accident, this time on the corner of Dr Enos Mabuza Drive and the R40. “A vehicle was rear-ended by another speeding vehicle, and the impact caused a female passenger to pass away,” Jeffrey said.
A number of protests also plunged the N4 into chaos by blocking the road over the past week for two hours on Wednesday, and three and a half hours on Sunday.
TRAC spokesman Solange Soares Nicholson confirmed that the trucks belonged to Heymans Kole, and Reinhardt Transport. “Protesters allegedly took the keys of the trucks, and used the vehicles to completely block traffic,” she said.
Wednesday involved two trucks from Reynhardt Transport, and Sunday, one from each of the abovementioned. “The reason for the protests are currently being investigated,” she said. Lowvelder made various attempts to contact the companies for comment, but to no avail.
On Sunday the Long Tom Pass was also temporarily blocked by a truck belonging to Chrome Carriers. However, it later transpired that the driver had been attacked, and trucks attacked with rocks, which caused the delays.
