WHITE RIVER – Screeching, crying and screaming. These are the words Mr Ace Mthombothi, a passenger who was lucky enough to escape from the wreckage of the bus before it caught fire, used to describe the ordeal.
Mthombothi was sitting at the back of the bus and couldn’t see much of what had transpired and couldn’t remember it either. He said the windows shattered on impact, allowing him to exit immediately. He managed to escape with minor injuries to his left leg and nose, but added it was not the physical scars that had done damage, “It was terrible, I couldn’t see much as I was too far back. It was dark and all I can remember was the screaming and crying of the terrified passengers.”
Mothombothi was admitted to Rob Ferreira Hospital and discharged the following day to recover at home.
The driver of the Toyota RAV 4, which collided with the bus, is a doctor at Rob Ferreira. She is known only as
Dr Mnisi and amazingly escaped with minor injuries to her ankle.
According to the Department of Health spokesman, Mr Ronnie Masilela, Mnisi was not able to share her horrific experience with the media at the time of going to press. She was also not able to confirm how many occupants had been travelling in her vehicle. According to White River Fire Department station officer, Mr Jaap van Wyngaardt, this was the worst accident he and his team had seen in the past decade. When they arrived at the scene, the vehicles were completely engulfed in flames and burnt bodies were strewn around the wreckage. The blaze spread to a nearby plantation, but they were able to put it out.
“We managed to extinguish the fire fairly quickly, but had to return repeatedly to the vehicles due to the nature of the fire.” Van Wyngaardt said the station had a number of new employees, who were shocked by what they had witnessed. “They hadn’t expected it to be this horrific,” Van Wyngaardt added.
Firemen only left the scene yesterday at 02:00 when the road was reopened for traffic.
See more photos of the accident scene here.
