Passenger recalls moment Golden Arrow Bus toppled along the R300 off-ramp
Cape Town - A commuter has relived the moment the bus she was travelling in crashed along the R300 off-ramp from the N2 on Monday.
Golden Arrow Bus Service (Gabs) confirmed that 52 passengers travelling on the Mitchells Plain Lost City bus from Cape Town had to be treated for minor to moderate injuries.
Six moderate injuries were reportedly related to neck and back pain.
Gretchen Appollis, 38, from Mitchells Plain, said that after finishing work she and a few of her colleagues boarded the bus in town.
“The driver is our regular driver. He is a safe driver, so we would have never pictured this happening,” she said.
Appollis said just moments before the bus toppled over, she was awakened by screams of passengers.
“They were shouting ‘driver’, then I felt us hitting the kerb and people falling on me. I immediately started to pray that we all make it out of the bus because by then people started crying and screaming.
“I also looked out and saw a small fire coming from the bus, and someone then came running with a fire extinguisher,” she said.
“Everything happened so quickly, we managed to help each other out and the driver, especially, was hands on, he took us all by the hand and helped each and every one out of the bus. Luckily the bus wasn’t full.”
Gabs spokesperson, Bronwen Dyke-Beyer, said the company’s officials would be in contact with the injured passengers to check in on them and explain the Road Accident Fund claim procedure and assist them with all the necessary paperwork.
She said the bus driver was suspended immediately, while an intensive investigation would take place to determine the cause of the accident.
tracy-lynn.ruiters@inl.co.za