Cape Town - A 13-year-old boy was killed at a KFC in Amalinda, Eastern Cape, when a falling trolley loaded with frozen chicken crushed him.
It is believed the safety brakes on the tail lift failed, causing the trolley to break loose from the tail lift of the refrigerator truck.
The truck had come from Port Elizabeth to deliver frozen chicken and ingredients to three East London KFC outlets.
Fumanekile Gxasheka, the driver of the truck and his assistant were approached by a 'street kid', who 'stuck around' despite being told to leave.
“We told him nicely we didn’t have money or job for him and that he should just leave us alone and continued with our work, but he decided to stick around and watched us working," Gxasheka told Dispatch Live.
Eyewitnesses were horrified and attempted to rescue the boy but to no avail.
One witness of the tragedy, Nonzukiso Matshayana, said the boy managed to sit up and 'talk briefly'. According to Matshayana, the boy collapsed and died seconds after explaining what had occurred.
Matshayana said the victim belonged to a group of homeless children who made money by washing and watching customer’s cars.
An inquest docket was opened by Cambridge police and no arrests were made.