Head-on collision leaves victims seriously injured
HAZYVIEW - A mother and son, Debbie and Diego Lane, were left seriously injured when a truck smashed into their Toyota Fortuner on their way to Hazyview on the R536 near town on Monday.
Diego (10) was strapped into the back seat. He was airlifted to Mediclinic Nelspruit where he is currently in an induced coma in ICU. He suffered severe injuries, including bleeding on the brain, abdominal bleeding, believed to be a result of the seat belt, a fractured spine as well as cranial and facial fractures.
It is hoped that the swelling around his brain will decrease over the next few days in order to be able to perform surgery.
Debbie sustained severe fractures to her arm, had to undergo surgery and is recovering in the same hospital.
Darren Lane is now focusing on the recovery of his wife and stepson, and said that at the moment, he does not blame anyone. “My wife barely remembers what happened on that day. She can only remember that the truck drove into them from the opposite direction. However, I will take the next step once they are all fine,” he said.
Obtaining a comment from the company owning the truck before going to press proved unfruitful. The Hazyview police are still investigating the cause of the accident.
This incident follows a spate of incident involving trucks across the country. In the space of a week, accidents caused by reckless truck drivers had claimed 21 lives. In once case, a truck crashed into another one that had been in an accident in KwaZulu-Natal. In August in Mpumalanga, a family of five lost their lives after they collided with an articulated truck, while a truck driver burnt to death in an accident that involved two coal trucks on the N4 near the Nkomazi Toll Plaza.