A spate of vehicle accidents over the last two days on the R114 near the Heron Bridge College has left 38 people injured.
The first accident, which occurred yesterday afternoon, was a taxi that had rolled. It is believed that the driver swerved in the road trying to avoid hitting a pothole when he went off the side of the tar and onto the dirt, over corrected, losing control of the vehicle which caused it to roll. 16 people sustained moderate to serious injury in the accident, and were taken to various hospitals by ambulance.
At approximately 16:40 this afternoon, Emergency Services were called to another taxi accident, mere meters from the one that had happened the day before. When paramedics arrived at the scene, there was a white Mazda sedan severely entangled into the front of the white Toyota Hiace taxi. It is not clear as yet who was at fault or what exactly cause the accident, but it was clearly evident that this was a severe impact head on collision. Good Samaritans had stopped at the scene to help to calm some of the more severely injured patients, who were found either sitting or lying on the side of the road, clearly in agony.
18 patients were found at the scene, 5 of whom had suffered critical injuries. Of those, two were still entrapped in the wrecks.
As ER24 paramedics assessed the injured, they immediately determined the need for the Discovery Medicopter to become airborne to the scene. The Medicopter landed a short distance away at the Heron Bridge College sports fields. The patient was quickly airlifted to a nearby hospital for further medical care. The crews promised to be back as soon as they could as there was likely a need for a second critically ill patient to be transported by air. Additional resources needed to be called in, in the form of ambulances and rapid response vehicles from all surrounding areas due to the vast number of seriously injured patients.
The driver of the sedan remained entrapped in the vehicle for just over an hour while Fire and Rescue Services tirelessly worked to cut away at the mangled metal piece by piece without further harming the man. After he was freed, he was quickly loaded into a waiting ambulance and taken to hospital. The remaining 16 patient were all stabilised at the scene, treated for multiple injuries including deep cuts, bruises and broken bones. They were taken to various hospitals in the surrounding area.
As the Discovery Medicopter was taking off from the sports grounds for the second time with a severely injured patient from the taxi, screeching tires and a number of loud crashes could be hear a few meters away. Witnesses explained that a truck had suddenly veered out of control not even a kilometre from where the first accident had occurred. It seems that just before the bend, the driver could no longer control the vehicle, and the truck collided into the passenger side of a hatchback. Fortunately for the young woman driving, although shaken, she was not physically harmed. The truck them drove up the roadside embankment before rolling down into the road, narrowly missing an emergency response vehicle which was travelling away from the taxi accident after all the patients had been cleared.
The truck then came to rest on it roof, with three of the four occupants lying under the cabin. One man, who had been ejected from the vehicle, had sustained only moderate injury. Two of the three under the cabin were fairly easy to remove, and they were treated before being taken to hospital. The fourth man was trapped under the cabin, and Fire and Rescue Workers once again had to charge up the Jaws of Life. The man was removed and airlifted from the scene by a Medicopter.
All necessary investigations will be performed by officials who attended the scene.
Vanessa Jackson
ER24
