"It was the worst 12 hours of my life, not knowing what had happened to my baby".
These were the words of anguish of a Durban mother, who, after a taxi accident, spent more than 12 hours searching for her 14-month-old baby girl, Alzina Mzanywa.
Thandazile Mzanywa was travelling in a minibus taxi from Verulam to Amaoti, near Phoenix, when the taxi overturned on a sharp bend.
"It was chaotic, I only remembered holding her in my arms and the next minute, I heard shouts from people who were pulling me out of the taxi through the window".
| The crash claimed one life |
"I kept on screaming out my child's name, but they told me that she was fine," Mzanywa said.
She said that when the paramedics attended to her, they told her that she would meet her baby at the hospital - but when she arrived, her baby was not there.
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"I understand why they said that, because they did not want me to worry as I was also injured. In my heart, I knew that my baby was fine," she said.
She went to Osindisweni Hospital, but was later released after she discovered that her baby had not arrived there.
"We called around, but all the hospitals had no record of her," she said.
It was only when Mzanywa's family called the local police station on Sunday night that they were informed that the baby had been sent to King Edward VIII Hospital.
"I am so happy that I have found her, and I know that she will recover soon," she said.
Mzanywa said she was angry with the taxi driver because the passengers had told him several times to slow down.
"He was speeding and, worst of all, they had packed us into the taxi like sardines - we were sitting four per row, but the law states that three people should be seated per row."
"If he had listened, me and my baby would have been fine, and the one person who died would be alive today," she said.
King Edward VIII Hospital spokesperson Ndabezinhle Sibiya said that the baby had been airlifted to the hospital after the accident.
"She is in a stable condition in the paediatric ward. She was already eating porridge on Monday morning," he said.
"We expect a speedy recovery because she is a brave baby girl."
The crash claimed one life and 11 other passengers were injured.
- This article was originally published on page 5 of Daily News on May 17, 2005
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