MBOMBELA – Two people died in an accident on the N4 between Mbombela and Malalane on Sunday night. This was the fourth accident that delayed traffic between Gauteng and Maputo this weekend. Lowvelder also reported that two people had died in a multi-vehicle accident near the Alzu petroport between eMalahleni and Middelburg on the N4 on Friday night. Two accidents in Ngodwana also delayed traffic, but no fatalities had been reported.
Ms Solange Soares, Trans African Concessions (TRAC) N4’s media and communications manager, shed light on Friday night’s horrific accident in which four cars were involved that led to the road closure. “We believe that a sedan overtook a truck and hit an oncoming vehicle head-on. Another car came from behind and in turn hit the vehicle that had overtaken the truck.” The fast lane from the Lowveld to Gauteng was closed off after the incident that occurred at about 18:30.
The traffic flow increased and the fast lane to the Lowveld was closed at 19:10. Soares explained that the Jaws of Life had to be used to cut the two victims from their vehicle. “To do this, the entire road had to be closed off. This was done at 20:45 and the accident scene was cleared at 21:30.”
Road travellers between Gauteng and the Lowveld experienced a lengthy delay as a result. Ms Marijke Bezuidenhout was one of them. Her journey from Johannesburg to Mbombela started at 19:00 and she only reached her destination at 01:00 the next morning. ”
Another accident occurred on Saturday morning on the N4 between Belfast and Ngodwana. TRAC N4’s media and communications department confirmed that no fatalities had been reported and that the accident scene was cleared up in just over an hour, causing only a slight delay in traffic to Gauteng. Traffic was congested at Kia Hora close to Ngodwana on Sunday night when, according to Mr Willem Swart of Van Wettens, a bakkie turned in front of a car at around 18:30. Soares confirmed that no fatalities had been reported and that the accident scene was cleared up swiftly.
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Two people died in an accident on the N4 between Mbombela and Malalane on Sunday around 19:30. Netcare’s Mr André Denysschen described what the accident scene looked like on arrival: “A taxi was lying on its roof on the side of the road that directs traffic to Johannesburg/Mbombela. The wreckage of an Isuzu bakkie was behind it. On the Malalane/Maputo lane’s side of the road was what remained of a Toyota bakkie.” The cause of the accident has not yet been established and Soares indicated that the accident would be investigated by the SAPS. SAPS spokesman Capt Dawie Pretorius confirmed that one victim (a passenger of the taxi, according to Denysschen) died on the scene and another died in the hospital. Denysschen further confirmed that nine people had been injured and transported to hospital by various emergency services. According to Swart, the accident scene was cleared within 90 minutes.
