Cape Town - Tragedy struck the small community of Herolds Bay on the Cape South Coast on Monday morning, when three young men died after the vehicle in which they were travelling plunged down a 100m cliff into the sea.
Emergency services and police rushed to the scene at about 7.30am after the driver of a bakkie lost control of his vehicle and it plunged into the sea at high tide from the well-known Voelklip Road, a popular spot for anglers.
The wreck of the vehicle and three bodies were found in the water at the bottom of the high cliff, but the high tide was making it difficult for emergency services to recover the vehicle or the bodies, said Southern Cape police spokesman Captain Malcolm Pojie.
Once on scene, paramedics found that a bakkie had plunged 100m down a cliff and had come to rest against some large rocks.
Using rope rescue equipment, rescue workers and paramedics made their way down the cliff to the bakkie.
Paramedics found the three bodies of the young men lying trapped inside the vehicle. All three had died of multiple injuries.
Pojie said police believed the three men were students whose parents lived in the town. Some parents were at the scene of the incident, he said.
Pojie however declined to name the three dead, saying their next of kin had not yet been informed of the deaths.
More than 17 000 people were killed in road deaths in South Africa every year, MEC for Transport Donald Grant said during a World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims commemoration yesterday.
Addressing people at the Mandela Park Stadium in Khayelitsha, Grant said: “As we remember the very many that have lost their lives on our roads, let us recommit ourselves to being safe and responsible road users who are mindful of the serious consequences that reckless and irresponsible road use has on our roads.
“More than 17 000 people are killed per annum. The human tragedy is staggering – the economic cost is crippling.”
In the Western Cape, 40 percent of road deaths were pedestrians.
Grant said it was imperative that policymakers went back to the drawing board to rethink ways of how pedestrians and vehicles share the road. “This year’s theme for the event was ‘It’s time to Remember – Say NO to Road Crimes’.”
“This is a call to action on all of us to be part of the solution to this growing pandemic and to ensure that our behaviours as individuals do not make us part of the problem”
According to the minister, by the end of this year over one million people would have been killed on the roads globally.
“The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Global Status Report on Road Safety 2015, released just last month, states that some 1.25 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes.
“Each death represents a father, brother, sister, son and daughter; a senseless loss of potential... Road deaths have eclipsed malaria as a global killer and it won’t be too long before they surpass TB and Aids.”
South African National Taxi Council spokesman, Bafana Magagula, said more than 300 taxi drivers and owners attended the event.
Meanwhile, road deaths at the weekend tallied nine fatalities, including three passengers killed in a car crash in Plattekloof on Saturday.
Traffic chief Kenny Africa said the fatalities occurred in Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, Kuils River and Noordhoek.
Cape Argus
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