A Dutch national who lost the vision in his right eye when a large stone hit him while travelling in a train last week now faces having the eye removed.
Jorrit de Vries, 26, has been working in the city for the past year and was on his way home from work, on a train travelling from Cape Town to Strand at about 6.30pm last Wednesday, when he “heard a bang” and felt the pain in his eye.
“I was sitting in the train next to the open window for some fresh air. We were between Woodstock and Salt River station when I just heard a loud noise. My eye started throbbing and the next thing I knew my lips went numb.”
De Vries said he hadn’t realised what had happened until commuters approached him and offered to help.
“Another man on the train told me that he saw it (the missile) coming from another train on the route from Koeberg and Maitland Station.
“He gave me his shirt for the blood. He got off with me at Maitland station where we waited for an ambulance after the security guards said they would call for one. One finally fetched me at 7.30pm.”.
De Vries was turned away from a private hospital. “I was then transferred from Hottentots Holland to Tygerberg hospital, where they operated on the eye on Saturday. “The doctors told me that there was nothing they could do and that the eye needed to be removed.”
De Vries sai
d: “I have been in contact with hospitals in Holland and doctors have told me that I would have a better chance of saving my eye there because of their advanced technology.”
Metrorail regional manager Mthuthuzeli Swartz said senior management was investigating and he was waiting for feedback from the railway police.
Metrorail urged anyone with information to call Metrorail Protection Service on 021 449 4336.
Cape Times