INLSA

A cellphone picture of the truck that sped out of control into the parking area at Pietermaritzburgs Liberty Midlands Mall, killing a woman. Picture: Sherlissa Peters

While the family of the woman killed in the horrific, accident at the Liberty Midlands Mall on Monday night mourn the loss of their loved one, mall management are also attempting to recover from the devastating tragedy.

The eight-ton truck veered off the N3 at about 9.30pm, crashed through the mall’s palisade perimeter fence and tore through the parking lot, mowing down 70-year-old Alice Jogessar, injuring scores of people, writing off several cars and smashing through the building’s wall into the Absa bank.

The truck, which was carrying a load of ironing boards, wedged itself in the wall of the building. It was removed yesterday morning, leaving behind a huge hole as a reminder of the tragedy.

Mall manager Cassey Fourie said that contractors were on site on Tuesday erecting support structures to ensure that the wall did not collapse.

She extended condolences to Jogessar’s family.

“We have been assured that the police are conducting a full investigation with regards to what caused the driver to lose control of the truck on the highway,” she said.

Fourie confirmed that the bank would remain closed for the next few weeks while the building was being repaired..

One-fifth of the parking lot has been cordoned off and the palisade fence line which was destroyed by the truck has been sealed off and the area safely demarcated.

“There is major damage to the building where the truck hit, and the fencing which it crashed through. An assessment of the damage is yet to be made,” she said.

Traffic authorities said on Tuesday that they were investigating a claim by the truck driver that the vehicle’s brakes had failed.

The vehicle will be tested for roadworthiness.

Police are investigating claims by witnesses who were travelling behind the truck, who allege that it was weaving in and out of traffic from before Hilton at high speed before it crashed.

Due to major construction on the N3 near the mall, the speed limit for trucks on that stretch of highway is 40km/h and 60km/h for cars.

The truck driver and his passenger both survived the accident and are recovering in hospital with broken limbs, along with two other victims who had been walking through the parking lot to their cars when they saw the truck hurtling towards them.

Jogessar, a former teacher in Pietermaritzburg, had just finished dinner with her friend and was getting into the car when she was hit by the truck.

Her friend, an Egyptian citizen who lives in London and was here on holiday, witnessed the horror. She was too traumatised to speak to the media.

Another woman, Darlene Hendry, whose BMW X5 was wrecked in the parking lot, said that she was walking towards her car when she heard a loud explosion and saw the truck barrelling towards her and her two children.

“I grabbed my kids’ hands and we ran for our lives. I have never been so scared in all of my life,” Hendry said.

Meanwhile, the accident has sparked a public outcry over “reckless truck drivers who bully motorists on the road with no regard for the rules of the road or the sanctity of life”.

Outraged residents have started a petition on Facebook and Twitter to “ban trucks from national highways”.

Linda van der Stel said: “We need to stop the carnage on our roads. Trucks have no place on our national highways. Bring back the rail systems and save lives.”