Cape Town - He doesn’t wear a cape and has no apparent superpower, but Klaas de Vos, 46, found himself catapulted to instant fame by his actions to save the life of a stranger who was in danger after Wednesday’s early morning gas truck explosion in Worcester.
De Vos, who is an employee at Raimondi’s Trading, a cash and carry wholesale business in the rural areas of the province, took a well-deserved break from work on Thursday after putting his life in danger to save Bennie Koch, 61, a logistics manager at Moreson Earthmovers, who was caught in the blast that followed the freak accident on Worcester’s High Street.
On Thursday Hennie Jordaan, the human resources manager at Moreson Earthmovers, paid a glowing tribute to the man he described only as “Mr Vos”, who dragged his colleague Koch from danger.
Jordaan said: “Bennie was very fortunate to have Mr Vos around. Bennie had managed to crawl from the wreckage of his car, but Vos dragged him away from there, put him in the back of a bakkie and drove him to hospital.”
On Wednesday, members of the trucking community posted on Twitter about Koch and said: “Please keep Bennie Koch in your prayers. He is in a critical condition and fighting for his life in hospital.
His vehicle was obliterated by the tanker explosion in Worcester as Bennie was very close to the tanker when it exploded.”
Jordaan said on Thursday that Koch was doing much better. Also on Thursay, Sandra Maritz, the communications officer at the Cape Winelands Health Department, said: “Four patients received treatment at Worcester Hospital. “One patient (treated for burn wounds and smoke inhalation) was transferred to Tygerberg Hospital. Two other patients were treated for minor burn wounds and were discharged.
“The fourth patient was treated for burn wounds and smoke inhalation and has also been discharged.”