A Durban woman narrowly missed disaster when a car tumbled into her suburban swimming pool as she was about to take a dip.
Jo-Anne Roux said five minutes before hearing the crash, she was inside changing into her swimming costume eager to go for a swim.
“I’m really lucky because I could have been in the water when the car came crashing down. I’m also just grateful the driver is okay. I helped her off the roof of her car,” she said.
The owner of the vehicle, a 24-year-old Master’s student who did not want to be named, visited a friend in New Germany on Tuesday night and, while parking her car, a VW TenaCiti, in their yard, the brakes failed.
The car crashed into the boundary wall and toppled over into Roux’s yard, down an embankment and into the pool.
The student recently returned to Durban after studying overseas and had spent four years saving to buy a car.
“I bought my car two months ago. Everything happened so slowly, as if in slow motion. It was scary because I couldn’t control what was happening or stop it. I was parking my car and the brakes did not work so it rolled and went through the wall. I hit my nose on the car roof as it toppled and landed in the pool,” she said.
“I quickly grabbed my handbag and got out through the passenger window which was broken. It was just like the movies when you see a car crashing into the water and I was worried the car doors would jam and I would be trapped inside so I bolted out. I threw my handbag on to the side of the pool and I stood on the car roof.”
Roux cleared the glass from the pool and helped her to try to find her house keys, but it was too dark at the time.
Anna-Lois Andrews said the student came to visit her daughter with whom she has been friends since Grade 1.
“We were having a braai so there were other cars in the yard when she arrived. This morning, after seeing her car in the pool and with everyone trying to help her get it out, the shock has hit and she’s feeling embarrassed,” Andrews said.
Early yesterday, the student’s insurance company had called a special truck that tows heavy loads.
The towing service spent just over an hour negotiating with the neighbours, promising no further damage to their property, and manoeuvring the car out of the pool and on to Andrews’ driveway.
Shane Lander, the owner of the towing service, said that, on average, they removed two to three cars a year from swimming pools, but they did not often have to use a heavy-duty tow truck to do so. - Daily News