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EARLY-MORNING NIGHTMARE: FOUR VEHICLES CRASH INTO FALLEN WALKWAY ON N3
Woman critical after being trapped in truck for two hours.
Awoman was in a critical condition yesterday after being trapped inside the cab of a truck for two hours as rescue teams battled to extricate her from the vehicle, which had crashed into a collapsed pedestrian bridge across the N3 highway at the Geldenhuys interchange in Germiston.
Disaster and Emergency Management Services (Dems) got the call at 1.23am and the Bedfordview and Germiston Central fire station rescue teams responded.
Dems spokesperson William Ntladi said three trucks and a sedan crashed into the concrete bridge across both north- and south-bound lanes and that five people sustained injuries.
The driver and a seven-year-old girl were transported to Bertha Gxowa Hospital in Germiston in a stable condition. The adult female passenger was airlifted to Linmed Hospital in a critical condition.
A truck driver was transported to Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Joburg. The fifth patient, from a sedan, sustained minor injuries.
“This was an old bridge [constructed in 1978] that was not used and closed on both directions,” Ntladi said.
Sanral is investigating the cause of the bridge collapse.
Gauteng MEC for roads and transport Ismail Vadi said the road between the Geldenhuys interchange and Van Buuren Road would be closed in both directions for the next 24 to 48 hours.