8 injured as truck crushes car at Van Reenen
The driver heroically freed himself from the wreckage and flagged down another vehicle for help
8 people were injured in a horrific crash on Van Reenen’s Pass last night (Friday) when a truck crushed a VW Polo, trapping 1 person in the mangled wreckage.
It is alleged that the Polo and Freightliner truck were travelling southbound on the N3 towards Durban when the truck rear-ended the car, completely crushing and trapping the light motor vehicle under it.
There were 4 occupants in the Polo, with the driver heroically freeing himself from the wreckage and flagging down another vehicle for help.
The driver of the Polo commented that, “We are lucky no other vehicles or trucks crashed into us.”
N3TC, Sharaj, Netcare, EMRS, RTI and Van Reenen SAPS responded to the scene.
The jaws of life had to be used to free 1 of the occupants of the car, as she was trapped under the truck. All patients were stabilised and transported to hospital for further treatment of injuries ranging from lacerations to broken bones.
The driver of the Polo added that, “I just saw lights behind me and the next thing I knew the truck was on top of us! We are lucky to be alive!”
The N3 was completely closed (north and southbound) for almost 5 hours due to the fact that the truck was across all the lanes. Clean-up operations began with both the truck and car being towed away. The Freightliner container is still to be “recovered”.
Absorbent was used to clean up the oil spillage. By that time, the backlog of traffic had built up to almost 10km on both sides of the N3.
N3TC made sure there were no glitches in the clean-up process, and Spill Tech cleared the roadway.
