The Arrive Alive Website received an email from a concerned road user about a horrific accident on the N17 which did not receive much media attention. We would like to share the question and response:
Question:
“My vraag is dat daar Sondag aand so tussen 20H30 en 21H00 ‘n groot ongeluk was op die N17 maar ek sien niks daarvan op enige internet web bladsy of in enige koerant nie?? Daar was glo 3 voertuie betrokke en ‘n hele gesin van Secunda is uitgewis, sien onderstaande boodskap wat in Sasol versprei is. Dit het glo gebeur baie naby aan Leslie op pad na Evander se kant toe waar hulle besig is om die nuwe tol hek tans te bou. Onbevesitgde berigte beweer dat daar selfs meer mense as net die gesin gesterf het in die ongeluk, weet jy dalk iets daarvan af?
It is with great sadness to inform all that Rajendhran Govender, his wife Kershnee and two children Dilan (9yrs) and Cheyara (4 yrs) were all killed in a car accident on the N17 last night, 20 February 2011.
Rajen was a Group leader on Chemical Work-Up East. He has been with Sasol Solvents for 12 years .He started his career at Solvents as a process controller and promoted to Group leader position. Rajen was a hard worker, a true leader who was interested in the growth and development of his team .
Our heartfelt prayers and condolences towards the Govender family.”
We referred this to our Emergency Medical Response Partner ER24 and received a reply:
Response:
“There was a major accident in the area and we have the incident on our records. Details captured on the system indicate that seven people died in this accident.
The Traffic Investigation Services handled the incident and we handed all our information over to them. Due to the nature of the incident they investigating unit would have passed it on to their Communications Unit to release the info for public distribution.
It is not clear what happened on the scene, but the road was closed for several hours.”