Johannesburg - The M1 highway may have been cleared after the Grayston scaffolding bridge tragedy, but the heartache continues for the families of the victims who were killed and injured.
Adrian Doodnath, 27, was travelling with his wife Chantel, his parents and his cousin when he was killed as the scaffolding on Grayston Drive collapsed on top of their Toyota Hilux.
Images taken moments after the collapse show Doodnath’s father, Ashley, who is visibly injured, sitting on the side of the highway and refusing to move until paramedics remove his son from the wreckage.
Since the pictures were shared on social media this week, people have come out in their numbers to offer their condolences and express dismay at the tragedy. Although the vehicle was virtually demolished from the weight of the steel, his relatives miraculously escaped.
The Durban family was on a rare visit to Joburg when tragedy struck.
Former Lotus FM personality JJ Mathura, who was in Joburg and is a friend of the family, has told how her friend, Indrani, Doodnath’s mother, pleaded with her at the hospital to know if her son had survived. Doodnath was a businessman from Mount Edgecomb and, like his father, Ashley, worked in the brake and clutch industry.
Mathura said the family had driven up from Durban that morning.
“The disbelief is compounded by the fact that they seldom come to Johannesburg, but the day they arrive, that very day and time, this happened. It is testament to the fact that the time and place of your departure is truly unpredictable,” she said.
“We found his mother alone, in pain and shock in hospital. As I held her in my arms, she was trembling and begging me to tell her that her son was okay. I am haunted by images of her eyes begging me to tell her he was fine,” she said.
Taxi driver Siyabonga Myeni, whose passengers escaped death, was the second person to die in the incident.
He has since been hailed as a hero as he reportedly used his brakes timeously preventing more deaths.
The SA National Taxi Council secretary-general in Gauteng, Ralph Jones, told The Star on Friday morning that Myeni, who was from KwaNongoma, was the breadwinner and father of four children.
undefinedAccording to Joburg Emergency Management Services spokesman Robert Mulaudzi, Myeni was “killed almost instantly as a beam from the bridge pierced him in the chest”.
A lucky survivor was Bryce Carlinsky, 19, who failed to arrive home as usual from work.
Carlinsky was trapped under a huge steel pole after the scaffolding collapsed on the taxi he was in.
While it took paramedics hours to free him, he is alive.
At the time of the incident, he was returning from work in Sandton, where he is employed as a call centre agent.
He was seated in the front of the taxi with a colleague when the scaffolding collapsed.
After battling to get hold of him, Rose, his mother, received a call from her other son, Tremaine, explaining what had happened.
Tremaine told her to watch the news. The sight of the taxi trapped under a giant scaffolding with the top part cut off and surrounded by paramedics left her shell-shocked.
“I was crying the whole night,” she said on Thursday.
“I couldn’t wait to go to the hospital and see what was happening. I cried when I saw Bryce because, after seeing that pole, you would not think that he would survive. I thank God for putting His hand on my son,” she said.
According to the family, Carlinsky’s injuries included bleeding on the brain, head injuries and a fractured pelvis.
His condition is critical, they said. He remained in an induced coma at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital.
The Carlinsky family was planning to throw a 20th birthday party for Bryce on Tuesday.
“I am thankful that his spine is not hurt. Even though he has bleeding on the brain, I have faith that he will heal.”
A tearful Faith Mothoa, Bryce’s older sister, said it was still unreal for her because “when such things happen, you don’t think they will happen to your loved one”.
“He is our baby brother. I am so heartbroken,” she said, blaming Murray & Roberts, the company that assembled the scaffolding, for the accident.
However, Rose said her primary concern now was her son’s well-being.
Joburg mayor Parks Tau visited many of the injured at Charlotte Maxeke on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Department of Labour has been conducting investigations into the bridge collapse and is expected to release a preliminary report in a few days’ tims.
The Star and Daily News
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