LYDENBURG – A 33-year-old man set himself alight at the airfield on Wednesday after an apparent domestic row with his wife.
Mr Thabo Mkhondo poured petrol over himself while sitting in his Nissan NP200 bakkie. According to Sgt Elizabeth Mogao, communications officer at Lydenburg SAPS, Mkhondo allegedly phoned his father earlier and told him of his intention to end his life.
Mr Louis van Rhyn, who was doing maintenance work at the airfield at that time, heard people screaming and saw Mkhondo next to the flaming bakkie. He pushed the vehicle out of the way with his son’s bakkie and extinguished the flames with water.
“I thought he was dead. Everyone was screaming that he was dead. I started talking to him and he responded. He told me that he was tired and wanted to bring an end to his life. He told me his name and that he worked at Dwarsrivier Mine,” said Van Rhyn.
He immediately called for ambulance assistance and also phoned Mkhondo’s father and obtained his medical-aid details. In an attempt to keep him conscious Van Rhyn kept on talking to him until the ambulance arrived. Hazmat operator, Mr Deon Broekman, was the first paramedic to reach the scene.
“The man sustained severe burn wounds to his body. His clothes were burnt from his body. I immediately called for airlift assistance,” said Broekman. Mkhondo was treated and stabilised on scene by Netcare 911 paramedics until the EMS helicopter arrived. Mr André Denneysen, paramedic of Netcare 911, treated the wounds with burn shields and incubated Mkhondo.
“We stabilised him and he was airlifted to Nelspruit Mediclinic. The patient suffered first-, second- and third-degree burns. I would estimate that he sustained burn wounds to more than 90 per cent of his body,” said Denneysen.
Ms Robyn Baard, spokesman for Mediclinic Nelspruit, said Mkhondo was treated at the hospital’s emergency centre, stabilised and transferred to Milpark Hospital in Parktown, Johannesburg, which has a burn unit.
