Golden Highway taxi crash death toll rises to 12

A head-on collision between a minibus taxi and a Toyota Avanza claimed the lives of 12 people – including three young children – on the Golden Highway, near Soweto in Gauteng, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

According to Johannesburg Metro Police Department spokesperson Senior Superintendent Wayne Minnaar, the accident took place at about 4.50am.

“A taxi transporting passengers collided head-on with a Toyota Avanza on the Golden Highway, between Concorde Road and Stockwell Avenue. The [Avanza] driver and three children below the age of 10, who were in the Avanza, died on the scene.

“Six of the taxi passengers were also killed,” Minnaar said.

https://twitter.com/crimeairnetwork/status/1237638397356904449

Minnaar said the taxi driver was injured and taken to Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto for treatment.

EWN reports that the latest death occurred when the patient arrived at a hospital.

Gauteng public transport and roads infrastructure MEC Jacob Mamabolo recently announced the death toll now stood at 12.

The total number of people who have lost their lives in the road crash on the Golden Highway early this morning has risen to 12 – @JacobMamaboloSA pic.twitter.com/SfJIMtC4hY

— GP Roads and Transport (@GPDRT_) March 11, 2020

The number of injured people is unknown.

The highway has been reopened for traffic.

Mamabolo called for more vigilance on the country’s roads, and has expressed his condolences to the families and loved ones of those who died in the crash.

He will also be visiting hospitals where injured passengers are currently being treated, and will go to Robertsham Primary School, where the three learners who died in the crash attended school, as well as the bereaved family, on Wednesday afternoon.

More to follow.

(Additional information by Nica Richards)

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