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A pregnant woman and her unborn baby were among 13 people who died in a multi-vehicle accident on New Greytown Road in KZN midlands on Tuesday morning.
The accident involving a diesel tanker, a taxi traveling from Mpolweni and a bakkie occurred on the R33 (also known as New Greytown Road) near the Wartburg interchange.
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Five people, including the taxi driver and the diesel tanker driver, were injured and taken to hospitals in Pietermaritzburg.
The accident occurred outside the KwaChakide farm shortly before 7 a.m. According to witnesses, a dump truck failed to stop at the stop sign at the Wartburg interchange. This caused the diesel tanker heading to Greytown to lose control and collide with a taxi traveling to Pietermaritzburg. A bakkie was also involved, but emergency workers at the scene said the driver of the bakkie was not injured.
R33 was closed to traffic for most of the morning and vehicles were rerouted through Wartburg.
Thirteen people, including a fetus, died in an accident involving a taxi, a bakkie, and a diesel tanker on the R33 near Wartburg on the outskirts of Pietermaritzburg.
KZN police spokesman Colonel Thembeka Mbele said police were searching for the truck that did not pay attention to the stop sign.
“Wrongful death, reckless and negligent driving and failure to stop after an accident have all been recorded for investigation,” Mbele said.
When The witness Upon arrival at the scene, behind the police tape, anguished people had gathered asking for relatives who suspected they might have been traveling in the taxi that was now destroyed.
Cebile Zuma, councilor for District 10 in Mpolweni, under the local municipality of Mshwathi, was informed The witness all the passengers in the taxi were from Mpolweni and were traveling to Pietermaritzburg.
“The situation is really bad. The families are here and they demand that they be allowed to pass the police tape to identify their relatives, but the police do not allow it because it is a very gruesome scene. If they see their loved ones in that state, they will be marked for life, ”he said.
Zuma said the bodies of those who died were taken to a morgue in uMshwathi (Wartburg) and that relatives were allowed to go and identify their loved ones there starting at 2 pm.
A distraught young woman, who asked not to be identified, told her The witness She wanted to know if her mother was in the death van or if she had been taken to the hospital.
“I know nothing. I’ve been here for more than three hours, but I still don’t know if my mother is alive or dead. Should I go to the hospital or the morgue? I don’t know, “he said frantically
Transport MEC Bheki Ntuli, who attended the scene of the accident, said it was devastating, and expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.
Ntuli said the accident happened before the October road safety month, which will launch later this month.
“According to the accident report, it could be that one person was not obeying the rules and that resulted in annoying many people who were also using the road. That then tells me that each and every one of the people who are road users must always obey the instructions and traffic signs, “he said.
MEC Ntuli said that once all those who died have been formally identified, he will visit their families.
The R33 diesel tanker that was involved in an accident that claimed the lives of 13 people from Mpolweni, including a fetus.
Kufakwezwe Masikana, president of the uMshawathi United Taxi Association, said they were saddened by Tuesday’s accident.
“The people in this taxi were our family and friends, one of them is my relative.
“When they took the driver out of the wrecked taxi, he was crying, not because of the pain he felt, but because he saw the people he was carrying dead on the road. It was a very horrible sight, ”he said.
Masikana continued to urge all motorists, especially taxi drivers, to always be vigilant on the road.
“When you’re driving, don’t just focus on your car, keep an eye on all the vehicles around you,” he said.
