Pretoria - “I saw how some of those trapped in the wreckage cried out in pain until they went silent… They died as we desperately tried to save them.”
This was the chilling account of a man who was one of the first people on the scene of the horror smash on the notorious Moloto Road, dubbed the “road of death”, where 29 people perished on Monday evening.
The accident occurred near Kwaggafontein, east of Pretoria.
A black 4x4, a Putco bus, a tipper truck and an articulated truck carrying beetroot crates were involved in the accident. That stretch of road was closed off since 8pm on Monday when the fatal crash occurred. It was still closed by on Tuesday afternoon.
On Tuesday, emergency services and crime scene investigators spent hours combing through debris, wreckage, and stumbled upon body parts as they tried to piece together the cause of the carnage. The accident is said to be one of the worst on the notorious road.
A pair of shoes stuck out from underneath a pile of beetroot strewn across the scene.
A piece of human flesh dangled from the debris of one of the trucks, telling a story on its own.
Speaking at the scene on Tuesday, where shocked onlookers gathered, Ntokozo Mahlangu, a survivor who was travelling in the 4x4, said the accident that happened right in front of his eyes “was like watching a scene from a movie in slow motion”.
“My friend and I were driving behind the bus from Pretoria towards KwaMhlanga. We saw the tipper truck in the oncoming lane indicating it wanted to turn to its right.
“All of a sudden that truck was hit from behind by the articulated truck and pushed out of the way. The truck became uncoupled and its trailer hit the bus. I applied brakes but we were also hit by the trailer,” he said.
Mpumalanga community safety, security and liaison spokesman Joseph Mabuza confirmed the sequence of events. “The accident occurred when an articulated truck drove into the back of a tipper truck before colliding with a bus and bakkie coming from Pretoria,” Mabuza said.
The right side of the bus was sheared off as a result of the impact, killing the driver and all the passengers on that side of the bus.
“We are so lucky we survived with only minor injuries. You cannot imagine the sight of bodies falling out from the bus and body parts lying everywhere. It was unreal.
“We tried to help some of the injured but others cried for help… Then died in front of our eyes before we could reach them,” Mahlangu said.
Councillor Nkulumo Mufume was one of the first people on the scene on Monday night.
“When I arrived I didn’t have time to digest the horrific scene, I just had to help. There were bodies strewn all over the road as well as body parts.
“Paramedics arrived soon after me and gave me gloves to help free some of the passengers. We tried to help but we were too late. They were seriously injured. Some cried until they died as they were pulled from the wreckage.
“I couldn’t sleep last night, this is so, so horrible, it’s unbelievable. We had to lay out the bodies and try to match body parts to those that had been severed,” Mufume said.
Twenty-six people were declared dead on the scene, while three others died in hospital.
Thirty others were injured, nine of them seriously and were taken to hospital.
The articulated truck driver, and his passenger, and the bus driver were among the dead.
The driver of the tipper truck sustained minor injuries and was treated in hospital and later discharged.
Mahlangu and his passenger also escaped with minor injuries.
Mufume said reports of a missing toddler emerged at the scene but no child was found among the wreckage.
“We heard of a child missing and also found a child’s shoes, but nobody officially came forward to report a missing child. We also searched through the debris and the scene but no child was found, so we cannot say for certain there was a child involved.”
Relatives of the victims gathered at the KwaMhlanga district hospital where they identified the remains of their loved ones on Tuesday. Their grief was almost palpable; their faces and eyes swollen from crying.
An elderly woman who had just identified the severed remains of her daughter - a sole breadwinner who leaves behind three small children - fell into the arms of family members after she emerged from the mortuary.
“We have no idea what we are going to do or how the family will look after those children because the grandparents are old and fragile and are on pension,” a family member said.
A woman burst out of the mortuary, crying hysterically.
Another woman paced around the mortuary after her sister’s severed leg had not been brought to the mortuary along with her body.
Maria Skosana said she had identified the “very bad” body of her 30-year-old son.
“Nothing I can do will bring him back. Nothing can take this pain away. My child will never come back,” she said.
Bystanders watched as a big forensic truck was loaded with the bodies of the victims. Reports on the scene indicated that the facility could not accommodate the bodies and they had to be transported to other mortuaries in the area.
Addressing the bereaved families on Tuesday, Deputy Minister of Transport Lydia Chikunga extended her condolences and urged them to use a team from the Road Accident Fund to institute claims for loss of income and injuries.
She said the department would help the families with burials.
It would be decided at a meeting today whether a mass funeral would be held for the dead.
Police said the road had been wet and slippery at the time of the accident, at about 8.30pm, because of rain. Bus company Putco confirmed on Tuesday that the bus involved was from its fleet.
Spokesman Romeo More said the bus driver was among those killed.
“Putco’s managing director Franco Pisapia expressed shock at the horrific accident,” he said.
“A full investigation is under way to determine the exact cause of the accident.
“Putco will co-operate fully with authorities in this regard.”
Pretoria News