Two die when car ends up in river near Bethal
Delta 1 Rescue Diving recovered the woman's body as well as her car.
A motorist and one of her four passengers died when the car in which they were travelling ended up in a river about 10km from Bethal on the road to Standerton today, December 26.
According to information received, the woman allegedly lost control over her vehicle in a bend in the road just before the bridge due to the wet road surface.
The car crashed against barrier poles and veered into the river.
The motorist drowned. A man who was a passenger, was saved from the river, but later died in the ambulance.
Two other women and another man survived the ordeal.
Divers recovered the motorist’s body and the vehicle.
According to Russel Meiring, spokesman for ER24, their paramedics, as well as Delta 1 Rescue and the Mpumalanga Inland Water Police and other services arrived on the scene at 17:45 to find the light motor vehicle on its roof in the river.
“On closer inspection, medics found a man walking along the banks while two other women were found some distance downstream.
“A second man was found lying on the opposite bank, while a woman was seen inside the vehicle.”
According to Meiring, medics began to tend to the patients while rescue teams began extricating the trapped woman from the vehicle.
“The man on the bank was in a critical condition with rapidly diminished vital signs.
“The other man and two women had sustained minor to moderate injuries.
“Medics treated the patients and provided the critically injured man with CPR and advanced life support interventions. Unfortunately, after some time, the man succumbed to his injuries.”
Meiring said that after the rescue teams had extricated the entrapped woman, medics found that she had already succumbed to her injuries.
“Nothing could be done for her, and she was declared dead,” said Meiring.
At the same time of this accident, another car in the rain landed up in a water ditch about 23km from Bethal on the Middelburg road.
No one was seriously injured in this accident.
Sources: All City Towing and Delta 1 Rescue Diving
