Johannesburg - Paramedics who rushed to the scene of an accident between a minibus taxi and a bakkie in Tembisa on Friday morning discovered a “gruesome scene” – with up to eight people, including a child, believed to have burnt beyond recognition.
People were trapped in a taxi that was on its roof and on fire. Two passengers tried to escape the raging inferno through a broken window, but failed. They died in their bid to escape. Others who had managed to escape were scattered across the road, badly injured.
“It was a gruesome scene… it was very sad,” said ER24 spokesman Werner Vermaak.
At about 5am on Friday the taxi was involved in a head-on collision with a Ford Ranger on the M57 at Olifantsfontein in Tembisa.
It is not known what happened prior to the collision, but the taxi veered off the road, landed on its roof and burst into flames.
According to Vermaak, after the taxi came to a standstill, the broken window was the only escape route and the people inside scrambled to escape the flames. The lucky ones were able to get out, but Vermaak said the rest were burnt alive.
“As we were busy treating them at the scene, one of the injured women kept asking: ‘Where’s my baby, where’s my baby?’ It was very sad because in the taxi was the body of a child of about 4 years old who had burnt to death.
“We could not tell her that, it would have been unfair of us,” Vermaak said.
“Unfortunately it was extremely difficult for paramedics to identify the exact amount of bodies at the time. One of the injured occupants stated that there might have been eight people still in the taxi; however, this could not be confirmed on scene. An emergency helicopter was called to the scene to airlift one of the injured from the scene. The woman who was airlifted sustained severe burn wounds and possible fractures. The remainder of the patients were also treated for burn wounds and possible fractures.”
Spokesman for the Ekurhuleni Emergency Services, Willie Ntladi, said the information they received was that the taxi was travelling from Oakmore in Tembisa to Pretoria when it collided head-on with the double-cab bakkie.
They extinguished the fire upon arriving at the scene.
He said one of the passengers said there might have been 15 people in the taxi, including the driver at the time of the collision.
“Bodies are still in the wreckage and the police forensic team is here,” he said.
Ntladi said the scene was a traumatic one even for firefighters with many years of experience.
Vermaak said the driver of the bakkie sustained moderate injuries and was taken to hospital.
The Star