A horrific accident on the N12, about 1km up from the Sun 1 Hotel towards Johannesburg, involving a GWM single cab bakkie and a Volkswagen Citi Golf, sadly claimed the life of the driver of the bakkie.
The calls started coming through on the Zello emergency services app at around 11:25 on Tuesday, May 21, that there had been an accident on the N12 and that one patient was critical, three severely injured and two needing general medical assistance.
The single cab bakkie was lying on its roof in the left lane of the highway, and a black Golf on the grass off to the left of the highway. The Golf was smashed almost beyond recognition, and the entire cab of the bakkie had been squashed flat. Debris littered the highway.
Members of the public had stopped to assist and were the ones to call the accident into emergency services. SAPS, a tow-in truck, and various members of the community attempted to assist whilst cars and trucks flew past the accident scene.
Langamed Emergency Services took three of the passengers of the Golf to hospital. Unfortunately the driver of the bakkie did not have medical insurance, and no government ambulances were available to assist in a timeous manner. The driver of the bakkie sadly passed away in the middle of the left lane at the scene.
By 12:00 no traffic officials had arrived on scene yet to provide assistance with diverting vehicles on the highway away from the accident scene and the hazardous debris that was scattered across both lanes for approximately 500m.
According to the observations of a SAPS officer who was on the scene, it appears as though the Golf was allegedly stopping to drop off passengers on the highway without warning, when the bakkie allegedly slammed into the back of it at high speed. The bakkie appears to have flipped over and the driver was flung from the vehicle. The Golf appears to have rolled but landed back on its wheels on the side of the road.
“I was in the back of the Golf playing on my phone. The next thing I knew I just heard a loud bang and everything went flying. I am not sure what happened. It happened so fast,” said Calvin Nkosi, one of the passengers from the Golf who were still at the scene waiting for an ambulance.
His head was covered in blood and shaking from the shock of the accident.
The condition of the three patients from the Golf is currently unknown.
Investigations into the accident are still ongoing.
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