Teen pulls sisters from taxi after horror N2 crash
A BRAVE teenager has described how he pulled his sisters from the wreckage of a vehicle in a horrific accident that saw eight people taken to hospital yesterday.
Olwethu Chase, 16, was the only passenger who walked away unscathed when the taxi he was travelling in rolled on the N2 near Thornhill yesterday morning.
He was one of nine people in the Toyota Avanza taxi when it crashed.
Olwethu’s parents and three siblings were injured in the accident.
He said his family was returning to their Jeffreys Bay home after a family visit to Mthatha.
Wiping tears from his eyes, he said: “It happened so quickly.
“We were riding, then there was a white Golf in front of us.
“The Golf slammed on brakes and the driver tried to stop but lost control,” he said.
“The Avanza then rolled several times across the median and avoided oncoming traffic.
“My parents were flung out of the car as it rolled.
“I was sitting in the back behind the front passenger.
“When the car stopped, I had my two sisters next to me. Everyone was crying and screaming.
“I kicked the door open and carried them out and put them on the grass at the roadside.”
In a panic, Olwethu contacted a policeman relative in Jeffreys Bay.
“Then all the ambulances and police arrived to help,” he said.
About 10 ambulances, a fire truck and several police and traffic vehicles blocked the N2 for more than an hour, treating the injured and clearing the wreckage.
The Emergency Medical Services (EMS) air ambulance landed on the road shortly after the accident and airlifted the most critically injured victims to hospital.
According to the Avanza’s licence disc, it was permitted to carry only seven people but held nine at the time of the accident. Nelson Mandela Bay EMS operations manager Ashwell Botha said of the eight injured, five were non-fatal and three critical.
“The most critical patient was airlifted by helicopter.
“The rest went by ambulance to Livingstone Hospital,” he said.
Police spokesman Captain Johan Rheeder said a case of reckless and negligent driving had been opened.