Kimberley -
What should have been a pleasant outing to test drive a vehicle, ended in death and mayhem when a bakkie, carrying 10 people, overturned approximately 16 kilometres from Kimberley on the Griquatown Road.
One man died and nine other occupants were left with multiple injuries when the Nissan 1400 bakkie rolled several times, before crashing into a fence. The accident happened on Sunday evening after a tyre burst.
The bakkie was travelling from Griquatown towards Kimberley at the time of the incident.
The survivors on Monday said that they were test driving the vehicle when the accident occurred.
“We had just filled up the bakkie at the Caltex filling station on the Schmidtsdrift Road when the driver decided to take the vehicle for a test drive.
“We then drove at high speed out of town and when we reached the Griquatown signboard a couple of kilometres out of Kimberley, we decided to turn back,” one survivor, Lebogang Mathule, said.
The driver apparently stopped and picked up some hitchhikers who were standing next to the road.
Several minutes later the vehicle’s front tyre blew, causing the driver to lose control. The bakkie rolled several times before crashing into a fence. The bakkie did not have a canopy and the passengers on the back were thrown clear of the vehicle when it rolled.
“I was sitting at the back of the bakkie with some of my friends and two hitchhikers. We were just chatting when all of a sudden I heard a big bang (as one of the vehicle’s tyres burst),” Mathule said.
“The vehicle flipped over and as it was about to hit the ground, I managed to jump out. Otherwise I would have been crushed to death,” he said.
Mathule, who sustained several injuries, including a broken left thumb and some bruises on his body, said that he thought that he was going to die because the vehicle flung them all over the place.
“The driver was also flung out of the vehicle and my other friend, Neo Makadu, who was sitting in the front of the bakkie was left unconscious. The situation was really horrific,” Mathule said.
Makadu, who was sitting next to the driver in the front of the vehicle together with another woman, said that after the tyre burst, the driver lost control of the bakkie.
“All I remember is that we were airborne before the vehicle rolled several times. I don’t know how the woman (a hitchhiker), who was sitting between myself and the driver, got out of the vehicle because I was unconscious at the time.
“I just know that one of my friends dragged me out of the vehicle because he thought it might explode,” he said.
EMS personnel attended to the victims at the scene and attempted to save the deceased, who was sitting in the back of the bakkie, but he was already dead.
The Kimberley SAPS on Monday confirmed that they were investigating a case of culpable homicide.
The deceased has been identified as Otsile Neville Sebolai, 33, from Galeshewe.
Anyone who has information regarding the accident is asked to contact Detective Warrant Officer Patrick Dibebe on 082 331 4712. The investigation continues.
Spokeswoman for the Department of Health, Lulu Mxekezo, confirmed that eight patients were brought to Kimberley Hospital after they were involved in the accident.
“Five were examined and discharged. Three are still in hospital, two of whom are still being assessed. One patient is in a critical but stable condition.”
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