Mother’s Day ended tragically for a family travelling from Umkomaas towards Toti on the N2 before the Umgababa off-ramp, when an elderly woman was killed in a head-on collision.
At about 10.10am on Sunday morning, Netcare 911 paramedics responded to the scene, where a vehicle travelling towards Amanzimtoti had veered across the centre median in heavy rain and crashed with a bakkie on the southbound carriageway.
Paramedics arrived at the scene and found the accident site strewn with debris from both the car and bakkie. The twisted frames of the vehicles came to rest across the slow lane, while two elderly people were entrapped in the car.
After examining the injured, it was found that the elderly woman passenger in the car had died on impact. Her husband, who was estimated to be in his late sixties, suffered life-threatening injuries, while the driver of the bakkie was in a serious condition.
Firefighters from the Amanzimtoti fire brigade used the jaws of life to first remove the doors and side of the vehicle to allow medics access to stabilise the patient, before they removed the roof. After medics immobilised the critically wounded man, they removed him from the wreckage and transported him to a specialised hospital in Durban.
The other patient was treated by a private service and transported to an Amanzimtoti hospital.
In other weekend crashes, a three-car collision claimed the life of a 21-year-old man in Isipingo on Friday afternoon, 6 May at about 3.30pm.
The cause of the collision along Wanda Cele Road in Lotus Park, Isipingo is unknown, but paramedics who responded found accident debris and the twisted frames of the vehicles spread over a large area. The 21-year-old man was found lying on the ground after being ejected from his vehicle.
Medics triaged the patients and found the man who had been ejected from the vehicle had sustained life-threatening injuries. Two other men were in a serious but stable condition. They treated the injured at the scene before transporting them to various hospitals.
The critically injured man died soon after arriving at hospital, due to the extensive injuries he sustained.
In a separate weekend crash, a woman was seriously injured when her vehicle rolled on the N2 south just past the Umgababa off-ramp at about 9am on Sunday morning, 8 May.
Netcare 911 paramedics were informed that the vehicle was traveling towards Umkomaas when the driver veered off the road in the heavy rain.
The car hit a water culvert and overturned, rolling up an embankment. Netcare 911 paramedics and another service found the crumpled frame of the vehicle in the grass between the Umgababa on-ramp and the N2 southbound carriageway.
A woman was found to have sustained serious injuries, while her child and husband escaped with minor injuries. They were treated at the scene before being transported to hospital.
