THREE DIE IN N12 CRASH
THREE people died and three others were seriously injured in a motor vehicle collision on the N12 between Kimberley and Warrenton on the weekend.
Three men died on the scene of the accident, which took place about 10 kilometres from Kimberley just before 6pm on Friday night when a Ford Ka, transporting four people and travelling towards Warrenton, crashed into a Mazda bakkie, carrying two people and travelling towards Kimberley.
The driver and a passenger in the Mazda bakkie, as well as one passenger in the Ford, died on the scene, while the female driver and two passengers, one male and one female, in the Ford sustained “serious injuries”.
While it was suspected that the Mazda bakkie had attempted to make a U-turn when the accident happened, according to one eyewitness the bakkie had swerved into the oncoming lane after trying to avoid another bakkie that was travelling towards Warrenton and was “dangerously overtaking”.
“We were in our vehicle travelling towards Warrenton when we saw a white bakkie “dangerously” overtake us at high speed. Just a few moments later the same white bakkie again overtook a vehicle and moved into the right lane. At this time, the other bakkie (involved in the accident) swerved into oncoming traffic, possibly so as to avoid the oncoming white bakkie (that was overtaking), and the Ford crashed into its left-hand side,” a man stated on the scene shortly after the incident.
He added that the white bakkie then fled the scene, unscathed.
The collision left the Mazda bakkie “cut in half” and its canopy completely dislodged and lying metres away, with the vehicle’s full load of naartjies strewn for metres
Danie van der Lith across the road.
The bodies of the bakkie’s driver and passenger both ended up next to where pieces of the vehicle came to standstill in the veld and they were declared dead on the scene.
The Ford’s front-seat passenger was also declared dead on the scene, while the back-seat passengers, a male and female, were transported to local hospitals with moderate injuries.
Emergency services battled for more than half an hour to free the trapped female driver of the Ford, and the Fire Department was called in to cut the woman out of the vehicle using the Jaws of Life.
Emotional family members of the people travelling in the Ford arrived on the scene shortly after the incident and consoled each other while watching emergency personnel frantically trying to save the life of the female driver and free her from the vehicle, where the body of the dead male passenger remained beside her.
She was stabilised by Emer-GMed paramedics on the scene but remained in a “critical” condition after sustaining serious injuries that included multiple femur, pelvis and rib fractures.
She was then transported to hospital, where she was yesterday in a “stable” condition according to family members.
Police spokesperson, Lieutenant-Colonel Dimakatso Mooi, yesterday confirmed that police were investigating a case of culpable homicide following the incident.
“No one has been arrested and police are continuing with investigations,” Mooi said.