Cooking oil coated the road on Amajuba Pass this morning, as a truck travelling towards Volksrust lost its load.
Close to Route Marker 33, the driver of the truck noticed a herd of cattle crossing the road and swerved to avoid a collision. The infamously treacherous pass nearly claimed its next victim as the driver struggled to bring the truck under control.
The truck and driver escaped the long drop on the far side of the road, but spilled cases of slippery cooking oil across the pass.
Residents of a nearby informal settlement pitched in and ‘helped’ clear the mess by carrying off unspoiled oil by the bucket-load. “People grabbed the cooking oil before we could get here to stop them,” claimed police officials on the scene.
Traffic police and clean-up crews are on scene. The pass is expected to be clear within the next few hours.