The heartbroken widow and mother of the Durban driver killed when a pedestrian bridge collapsed on his vehicle in Joburg on Wednesday, were inconsolable, relatives said on Friday night.
Adrian Doodnath, 28, of Mount Edgecombe, and his family had just arrived in Joburg on a rare trip, and had just driven under the bridge over the M1, when it collapsed during peak hour traffic.
Doodnath was with his wife, Chantel, his mother Indrani, father Ashley and cousin Jason Perumal.
His father suffered spinal, back and shoulder injuries while his cousin had leg and head injuries.
Doodnath’s wife and mother were uninjured, but after getting out of the wreck, they sat shocked and devastated on the side of the road with Doodnath’s injured father as paramedics attended to some 23 other people who were also injured in the tragedy.
The second victim, also from KwaZulu-Natal, taxi driver Siyabonga Myeni, 27, of kwaNongoma, was hailed a hero because he slammed on the brakes in the nick of time. While his quick thinking did not save his own life, it did save his passengers.
Two of them were trapped for hours while emergency services worked to free them.
Myeni, who worked as a taxi driver for five years, was the father of four young children.
Doodnath’s close-knit family, including his injured father and cousin, all flew back to Durban yesterday, while other relatives were busy making funeral arrangements for Saturday.
Doodnath, who had attended Greenbury Secondary School, in Unit 2, Phoenix, had run a branch of his father’s clutch and brake business in Richards Bay, ever since he married almost five years ago, a relative said.
“
Adrian and Chantel were inseparable. I don’t know how she is going to manage without him,” said Doodnath’s aunt, Saloshani Lutchmenarain.
The couple married on November 20, 2010, and had booked a celebration anniversary trip to China.
Now it is a funeral that is being planned.
Doodnath’s distraught widow and mother are “totally inconsolable”, Lutchmenarain said.
Doodnath’s body will be at 29 Silver Oak Avenue, Mount Edgecombe from 11am-12.30 on Saturday.
Thereafter the funeral will continue at the Mount Edgecombe Kingdom Hall (opposite Mount Edgecombe Hospital), and at 3pm proceed to Red Hill cemetery for the burial.
It is still not clear how many of the injured in the accident had been in vehicles or were pedestrians.
The bridge is part of the EcoMobility project, a City of Johannesburg initiative to reduce traffic congestion in Sandton by encouraging the use of public transport and other alternative modes of travelling, including cycling.
It is not clear what had caused the bridge to collapse.
Independent on Saturday
* E-mail your opinion to [email protected] and we will consider it for publication or use our Facebook and Twitter pages to comment on our stories. See links below.
@IOL on Twitter
IOL News on Facebook