Two people have tragically died while two others were injured, one critically so, after a car collided with a petrol tanker and three pedestrians on the M27 in Waterloo, near Umdloti on the Natal North coast. Exact detail to the cause of the accident and preceding events will remain a subject for police investigation and comment.
Netcare 911 paramedics and their rescue unit as well as the fire department arrived at the scene and found the crumpled remains of the car trapped under the overturned petrol tanker trailer with a female still trapped under the twisted frame of the car. The driver of the car as well as a female pedestrian tragically died on impact due to the severe injuries that they sustained. The third pedestrian a female in her twenties was found at the side of the road with serious injuries.
While paramedics and the rescue officer crawled in under the wreckage to stabilize the critically injured female, a heavy duty crane was brought in to lift the tanker from the car wreckage .A small tow truck was then used to lift the twisted frame of the car and allow the paramedics to pull her free from the vehicle.
After she was skillfully immobilized on a trauma board and stabelised paramedics then airlifted the patient to the Nkosi Albert Luthuli hospital for the care that she required. The seriously injured pedestrian was treated on scene and then transported to a local hospital for further medical intervention.