10 pupils seriously injured when bakkie overturns in Mondlo
Witnesses described the scene as, “just limbs flying out of the van,” after the vehicle overturned and hit a tree losing its canopy in the process.
TEN SCHOLARS were badly hurt last Friday after the Nissan 1400 they had been packed into, overturned and sent them flying.
According to the SAPS’ Jethro Khumalo, he had been travelling on the road, headed to Mondlo from Vryheid with some of his colleagues and children, when they witnessed what he described as, “just limbs flying out of the van,” after the vehicle overturned and hit a tree losing its canopy in the process.
“The road heads downhill from where the car was driving and I assume the cause for the car veering off the road may have been speed,” said Mr Khumalo.
Arriving on scene, Mr Khumalo and the people he was travelling with, did their best to try and load the badly hurt children into his car before transporting them to the Mondlo Block C Clinic.
“When we arrived at the clinic, the staff members helped us immediately and they also contacted Vryheid Hospital to send over eight ambulances to transport the children to the hospital. Two of them seemed to have sustained serious injuries to their skulls and they were later transferred to Grey’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg,” said Mr Khumalo.
Mr Khumalo said that the driver sustained minor injuries, and when he was questioned about the accident, he told them that the car was being driven by one of the 15 year-old boys, when the collision occurred.
The driver also did not have a license.
The owner of the car was contacted and when he arrived on scene, he is said to have claimed to have not been aware of the fact that this young man had taken the car.
The car was found to be unroadworthy and the license disc and number plate did not correspond.
Cases of negligent and reckless driving, allowing an unlicensed driver to drive on a public road and carry passengers, and two counts of driving without a license were opened at the Mondlo Police Station.
The two children who sustained serious head injuries are said to be in a frightful state and have since been transferred back to Vryheid Hospital.
Mr Khumalo commended the Mondlo Bekumthetho Clinic staff members for the vigilance and speed with which they responded when assisting the children and the driver.
