Bloody Easter weekend on Tshwane roads
At least 13 people were killed in vehicle accidents on Tshwane roads during the Easter weekend, among them a one-year-old boy who lost his life when a bakkie overturned on the N14 route on Friday night.
The accident also claimed the lives of a six-year-old child and a young adult. Three other passengers, who had injuries ranging from critical to severe, were taken to hospital.
All fatalities recorded during the weekend were as a result of 12 vehicle accidents and three pedestrian accidents, says the Tshwane Emergency Services Department.
Department spokesperson Charles Mabaso said that while there had been fewer incidents reported on the roads in Tshwane this year compared with 2023, there were more fatalities.
Between March 29 2024 and April 1, 2024, there were 12 vehicle accidents and three pedestrian accidents compared to 32 vehicle accidents and seven pedestrian accidents reported between April 6, 2023 and April 10, 2023.
“The number of fatalities recorded in 2024 is 13 and three in 2023,” Mabaso said.
One of the accidents happened on the R55 and Lochner road in Raslouw near Centurion. Three people lost their lives in the early hours of Friday after two vehicles collided. Other occupants of the vehicles sustained critical to severe injuries.
Mabaso said: “The Tshwane Emergency Services Department arrived at this incident to find that two patients were already transported to Kalafong Hospital by a private ambulance service. Firefighters had to use the ‘Jaws of Life’ to free some trapped motorists from one of the vehicles.”
In a separate accident, a bakkie overturned on a Brits road near the Straightfontein butchery in the north of Pretoria on Saturday at about 2am.
Emergency services personnel found that two critically injured motorists trapped inside the wreckage. The “Jaws of Life” was used to rescue them from the wreckage.
Mabaso said: “Four male teenagers were declared dead on the scene when a vehicle they were travelling in lost control and crashed into a wall on Thabo Sehume Street, between Nelson Mandela Drive and Steve Biko Street in the Pretoria City Centre at around 4.30am on 30 March 2024. The owner of the vehicle arrived on the scene around 6am after being notified of the accident by the vehicle tracking company.”
A vehicle occupant was declared dead at the scene and seven others suffered multiple injuries in an accident on the N1 between the Murrayhill and Wallmansthal interchange on Sunday morning. One of the occupants was in a critical condition and airlifted to hospital by chopper.
Mabaso said a crash involving three cars occurred on the N1 south bound before Olifantsfontein Road on Sunday at about 5.50pm. Two people were declared dead at the scene, while three patients sustained minor injuries and two others moderate to severe injuries.
Emergency services personnel attended to a house fire that claimed a life near Eersterust police station on Sunday.
Mabaso said three patients were transported to Steve Biko Hospital in critical condition, while three minors, aged between one year and nine years, were handed over to the custody of the SAPS.
“The house fire was extinguished but (the house) suffered extensive damages. The causes of all accidents have not yet been determined and will be investigated by law enforcement authorities,” he said.
Pretoria News
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