Using her own body as a shield against the insatiable flames, a devoted mother saved her one-month-old baby from the clutches of certain death during the devastating fire on Tuesday evening.
Zelda van der Westhuyzen, a telesales and admin officer for Eggbert, found the mother fleeing barefoot from the taxi that had caught fire along the Dundee / Vryheid Road, clutching her bawling baby tightly to her chest.
The mother had abandoned her shoes in the taxi in order to be able to run faster and her feet and arms were painfully blistered from being exposed to the fire.
YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO READ:
Utter devastation as Scheepersnek fire ravages farm
Fire leaves desolate wasteland in its wake
“I was returning home to Vryheid from the Blood River area, where I work. When I got to the Landbou School, traffic officials were stopping all the cars explaining that a taxi had caught fire. As I was about to turn around and go back, I saw the lady walking along the road. She was trying to cover her baby to prevent the baby from inhaling any more smoke. I opened my door and asked her to get in and drove back to the Tea Cup to wait for the road to open,” said Zelda.
At the Tea Cup, a kind woman opened her home to Zelda, the mother and her baby offering them a quiet refuge from the chaos outside to try and calm the distressed baby.
“We were at the house for about 20min when we were informed that the scene had been cleared and we could proceed along the road. I drove the mother and baby straight to the Vryheid Provincial Hospital. Other victims of the taxi fire were already there being treated and they attended to the mother and baby immediately,” Zelda continued.
ALSO READ:
#Vryheidfire believed to be arson
#VryheidFire: A silver lining in the ashes – ‘Vryheid staan saam’
On the way to the hospital, the mother told Zelda how farmers working to fight the fire, had warned the driver of the taxi not to proceed along the Dundee / Vryheid Road as it was too dangerous, but the driver ignored them and continued driving.
“She said that the passengers in the taxi also pleaded with the driver not to go through, but he carried on driving. I can’t think how he will live with himself. One of the burn victims was a 15-year-old girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. What happened was so unfair.”
The taxi had been transporting passengers from Johannesburg to Eshowe.
Zelda arranged with Sandra Maritz of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, to collect a few toiletries and clothes for the mother and baby as they had lost their luggage to the fire.
“When I saw the mother along the road I could see that she didn’t know which way to go. I thought about the baby and decided to get her in and get her to safety. I kept thinking that it could have been me in that situation if they hadn’t stopped the cars from passing.”
Frikkie Bekker of KwaZulu Private Ambulance, who responded to the taxi fire and assisted victims before transporting them to Vryheid Provincial Hospital, said it was a terrible feeling to walk up to the scene where six people were lying on the ground unable to move due to the severity of their burns. “It was something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy,” said Mr Bekker, who provided backup emergency services, until the fire was finally contained, and assisted tankers and fire fighters find the locations that needed more manpower.
