FOUR KILLED
AN ELDERLY man from Christiana was among the four casualties of a head-on collision on the N12, while his 79-year-old wife continues to receive medical treatment at the same hospital where she had collected him shortly before the accident yesterday morning.
While the identities of the other three victims could not be confirmed, 71-year-old Hendrik Wessels, a well-known pensioner from Christiana, was declared dead on the scene, a few kilometres outside of Kimberley on the Johannesburg road, yesterday morning.
Wessels was due to travel home yesterday after he was discharged from Mediclinic Gariep earlier in the morning.
It is believed that his wife, Yvonne, had travelled to Kimberley to collect him and that the couple were returning to Christiana when the accident occurred shortly after 10am.
The accident further saw the N12 closed for several hours over lunchtime in order for emergency services to cut the bodies from the wreckages while police got their investigation under way.
This saw traffic adjacent to Kamfers Dam backed up for more than a kilometre shortly before 11am yesterday morning until one lane was reopened at around 2pm.
One eyewitness on the scene yesterday said that it appeared as if one of the vehicles was attempting to overtake a truck, moving into oncoming traffic in the process.
“It looked as if both cars were on the solid line when they hit each other,” he said.
“Horrible accidents like this are happening all the time on our roads and something needs to be done about reckless driving. I travel for a living and I’m seeing people dying on the roads on almost a daily basis.”
According to police spokesperson, Captain Sergio Kock, the cause of the accident was still the subject of a criminal investigation.
“It is alleged that a white Ford Focus collided with a silver Toyota Corolla and a truck,” he stated, in response to media enquiries yesterday afternoon. “The driver of the Toyota was rushed to hospital while her male passenger died on the scene.”
Kock also confirmed that three people who had been travelling in the Ford had been fatally injured while a fourth continued to receive medical treatment at the Kimberley Hospital.
“Two male occupants died on the scene while one female later succumbed to her injuries in hospital.
“The exact cause of the accident is being investigated and anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Warrant Officer Modise Moshotloa on 082 302 0407.”
Having sustained injuries to her leg and chest, Yvonne was transported to Mediclinic Gariep by Emer-G-Med paramedics, where WEDNESDAY she underwent X-rays and was admitted to the private hospital’s high care unit.
The couple’s daughter was due to arrive in Kimberley from Gauteng last night.
The injured occupants of the Ford, who could not be identified, were taken to the Kimberley Hospital.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident on the N12, only a matter of hours earlier, one person was killed and 11 others were hospitalised when a taxi and a Ford Figo were involved in an accident late on Monday afternoon.
The incident occurred near GWK on the N12 leading to Ritchie at approximately 5pm.