Brake failure alleged cause of horror N3 crash

DEFECTIVE bus brakes may have led to Monday’s horror, multi-vehicle crash on the N3, near Hidcote in the KZN Midlands and claimed the lives of seven people, a passenger has claimed.

N3 Toll Concession operations manager Thania Dhoogra said the crash occurred about 7km from the Mooi River Toll Plaza, on the Johannesburg bound carriageway.

She said it was later discovered that there was a bakkie trapped underneath the bus. The bus was travelling towards Durban when the driver allegedly lost control of the vehicle, which veered on to the northbound carriageway and collided with a rigid truck and a tanker truck.

Upon impact, the bus, tanker truck and bakkie caught alight.

Alfred Makhanya, 42, was seated on the front seat of the bus and was in conversation throughout with the “friendly driver” on their trip from Joburg to the coast. The bus is owned by Gauteng-based company Vilamora Tours.

Shortly before the crash, Makhanya claimed, the driver calmly told him he could not slow the vehicle down. At that point a truck pulling a trailer had suddenly switched to the fast lane as they went downhill.

Makhanya said the driver attempted to pull the bus towards the slow lane but crashed into another truck.

He said that both the bus and truck veered out of control and skated towards the centre median of the freeway.

Makhanya said the approximately 50 passengers in the bus screamed when the vehicle caught alight. Flames from the blazing tanker had spread to the bus. At some point he was thrown from the bus but was grateful that he sustained only minor injuries.

He said he felt dizzy when he got to his feet but joined others to rescue passengers stuck in the bus. By then, Makhanya noticed “green and yellow flames” on the road surface and figured there had been a chemical spill.

More motorists joined in to rescue passengers, some of whom had to jump through windows to reach safety.

“I rescued a lady whose legs were badly burnt, and also inhaled smoke,” he said.

Makhanya, who is unemployed and from Bhamshela in Kwamaphumulo, said he was travelling to Durban to fetch seawater to sell to fellow residents of the Jeppe hostel where he lived.

Makhanya said he lost all of his 25l containers in the accident.

Furthermore, Makhanya said passengers were unable to remove their luggage from the vehicle’s cabin.

All seven occupants of the bakkie were burnt beyond recognition when their vehicle got trapped underneath the bus, he said.

Vishan Gounder of Vilamora insisted the bus was in roadworthy condition and had no mechanical faults. He said an internal investigation to determine the cause of the accident was already under way.

Nerissa Premial, compliance manager of Springfield-based Wardens Cartage, the company that owned the tanker truck, said she could not speculate about what happened until an expert’s report became available.

“The driver is receiving medical care in hospital after he inhaled flames and suffered a concussion,” she said.

An employee from the bus company said the driver of the bus was transported to a hospital in Estcourt, Kwazulu-natal Midlands.

Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said Mooi River police were still investigating a case of culpable homicide.

Mbele said the victims were aged between 26 and 49.