News from 25 years ago in the SUN (1994)
Do you remember any of these events from 1994?
Good Samaritan act ends in attack
A TOTI woman and would-be good Samaritan is recovering following a horrifying attack last Friday.
Sandra Egan, 24, was driving on the North Coast near Stanger when the incident happened. “I saw a woman lying in the road, and a man was flagging me down to stop and help,” she said.
“I stopped the car and a second man suddenly appeared out of the sugar cane lining the road”. Sandra was pulled out of the car and forced to lie face-down on a gravel road.
Burglars foiled by quick thinking cell phone man
QUICK thinking and a cellular phone lead to the arrest of a suspected burglar in Athlone Park on Friday, 7 October.
An Athlone Park resident notified local police on his cellular phone after he spotted a would-be-burglar in the Hudd Road area at around midday. Detective WO Rassie Erasmus and Constable Quinton Helleweege from Toti CID arrested a man who was sitting at a bus stop with the stolen goods, including a single bed mattress, clothing and blankets.
Rape suspect re-arrested after escape from court
A MAN, wanted for rape, who escaped from Scottburgh Magistrates Court last week, was re-arrested by Umkomaas police on Saturday night.
Robert Chiliza, 34, was one of six prisoners who escaped after a shoot-out in A court at around 3.25pm last Wednesday. The men were being finger-printed when they grabbed a policeman from behind and took his gun. It is believed that one of the prisoners was in possession of a firearm which had been smuggled in to him.
Error caused gas smell
THE cause of the recent insecticide smell in Athlone Park was a result of an operational error at Kynoch Chemicals.
Section manager, technical, at the plant, Lindsay Miln, said an investigation had been conducted into the incident. “An operational error in closure bungs being left off the 200 litre drums of insecticide, between the melting and pumping stations, allowed hot fumes to escape to the atmosphere,” he said.
Produce oil is seeping out
THE wreck of the Produce, a ship which sank on the Aliwal Shoal some 20 years ago, has started leaking oil.
Two weeks ago divers and Umkomaas locals noticed an oil slick over the wreck, which has become a popular recreational dive site. Oil has also polluted the beach at Kingsburgh and Umkomaas. Captain Robert Zanders of Pollution Control, Marine Division, confirmed that the oil was from the wreck and was marine diesel.
