Durban - ANOTHER motor vehicle accident claimed five people’s lives while two people were killed in a light aircraft crash in KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday afternoon.
Last week, at least 16 people were killed on the R34 between Nongoma and Melmoth, northern KZN, when a truck collided with a minibus taxi.
On Saturday, five people died in a three-vehicle collision - involving a Corsa bakkie, a Range Rover and an Isuzu double cab bakkie - on the R61 between Ramsgate and Southbroom.
It is thought the dead were in the Corsa, and were thrown from the bakkie during the collision.
The KwaZulu Private Ambulance service responded to the collision, and said when they arrived paramedics found three people with critical injuries, three with serious injuries, and two with minor injuries. “Sadly, at the scene a further four (were found to have) sustained fatal injuries before emergency services arrived,” the service said.
“At the hospital one of the critically injured patients deteriorated, and despite the efforts of the doctors, the patient was declared dead.”
On Facebook, commenting on a post by KwaZulu Private Ambulance, Elmarie Kruger Venter said according to a post she read, the collision took place after a red bowl fell on to the road from a bakkie, and a man had tried to pick it up. Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said Margate police were investigating a case of culpable homicide.
In another incident, two men were killed in a light aircraft crash in Hilton. Mbele said shortly after midday, a pilot, 58 and a passenger, 60, died after an aircraft crashed into hills immediately after taking off near Hilton College. Research revealed that the aircraft was registered to Stephen O’Hara and Gareth Evans.
It is believed that O’Hara could have been the pilot while The Witness said Gerald Cross was the passenger.
O’Hara’s Facebook page said he was the national operations manager at NileDutch South Africa.
On Facebook, Debbie Linden, who worked with O’Hara, posted: “I am going to miss you. My heart is broken but yet I rejoice as I know you are with Jesus. You left us too soon. May the peace that surpasses all understanding be upon the O’Hara family and the staff of NileDutch.”
SA Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson Kabelo Ledwaba said staff were dispatched to gather information which would assist in finding the cause or causes of the crash.
“The aeroplane, which is a light sports aircraft called a Bushbaby, had taken off from Eva’s Field, an airstrip in Hilton, and was heading for Umkomaas Airfield,” said Ledwaba.
Daily News