Shopping trip ends in terrifying ordeal
“I realised it was a very dangerous situation. My daughter was terrified and started crying while I was pushing the back window open so that we could escape” - Mr Andile Beju
Retha Fitchat
VEREENIGING. – A shopping trip to Duncanville with his daughter turned out to be a nightmare for Mr Andile Beju (51) on Saturday, October 13, when their car ended up in a ditch during a heavy storm.
Mr Beju, who is still shaken after their ordeal, says he and his 16 year old daughter, Nosipho, were on their way home from the shops in Duncanville to their residence in Three Rivers when suddenly a heavy flow of water swept his 2005 Toyota Run-X sideways. There was nothing he could do while the water pushed the car off the road at the corner of Houtkop Road and Van Riet Louw Street where the vehicle quickly started sinking.
“I realised it was a very dangerous situation. My daughter was terrified and started crying while I was pushing the back window open so that we could escape.”
He managed to get out first and was struggling to pull his daughter through the window when a man stopped his car nearby in order to give assistance.
“I saw a white guy jumping into the water and swimming to us to lend a hand. I was so thankful,” says Mr Beju.
His vehicle was later lifted from the ditch and towed away by Mr Eddie de Wet of DME Towing. The amount of damage to the vehicle is not yet known as Mr Beju’s insurer will first have to do an inspection and estimate. “My life has been turned upside down since Saturday,” says Mr Beju, an employee of the SA Defence Force in Johannesburg. Instead of driving to and from his work every day, he now has to take at least three different taxis on route to his work, and it’s the same story when he returns in the afternoons.
* Anyone who is prepared to assist Mr Beju with a “loan” vehicle until he gets his own car back, can contact Vaalweekblad on 083 246 0523 or (016) 950 7000.
Updated report:
The hero of the day has in the meantime been identified as Mr Shaun Boshoff (20) a student from Pretoria who visited the Vaal for the weekend.
He realised that Mr Beju and Nosipho were in danger, jumped in and waded through the water to assist the father getting his terrified daughter out of the sinking car.
“I’m no hero. I saw people in need and instinctively wanted to help them,” says Shaun.
Mr Beju and his family conveyed their heartfelt thanks to Shaun.
