Johannesburg - Thirteen people have died in a horror head-on collision between a Post Office truck and a taxi in Gauteng, with a 14th person dying later in hospital.
“There was blood everywhere. I identified my friend by his shoe when one of the emergency people picked up a foot from the body parts on the ground,” said Maru Abo, an Ethiopian living in South Africa.
His friend was one of the passengers in the green and white Inyathi taxi travelling on Friday from Randfontein to Swaneville, in Kagiso, Krugersdorp on the West Rand.
“I killed him, I sent him into that taxi while I could have driven him to Swaneville,” Abo lamented. He has a 17-day-old baby boy and his friend had come to visit the family and to meet the baby for the first time.
Abo and his friend came to South Africa together nine years ago.
The taxi was one of five vehicles driving eastwards on the R41 before noon on Friday. A truck carrying liquor was in front, followed by a sedan and the taxi. Behind the taxi was another sedan followed by a brick delivery truck, being driven by Godfrey Nyakundya.
“I saw the taxi swerving into the oncoming lane at high speed and then hit the truck head-on. It was human error – the taxi driver should not have driven like he did,” said Nyakundya.
There was a loud crash, then the sound of glass scattering everywhere and screams before taxi passengers were catapulted from the taxi, he added.
On the road, the taxi lay split in half, its roof ripped off.
The driver’s door was wedged into the grille of the truck.
Emergency personnel rushed to attend to three critically injured people, and began collecting body parts.
The three patients were taken to hospital in a critical condition.
The passenger in the Post Office truck was one of those taken to hospital while the driver died on impact.
Police spokeswoman Captain Apple Ernst said the cause of the accident were being investigated.
Acting Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport Barbara Creecy expressed shock at the horrific collision, and offered her condolences to the families of the dead.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the deceased during this time of grief, and speedy recovery to the injured. We would like to once again urge drivers to always exercise caution and patience on the roads, especially over the long weekend,” she said.
Saturday Star
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