19 killed in horror taxi crash

Johannesburg — Shoes, handbags, vehicle debris and shattered glass lay scattered eerily a few metres from the charred shell of the minibus taxi. Bodies lay strewn across the road. Fresh blood spatters glistened on the tar.

This was the horrific scene near Westonaria on the West Rand on Sunday after 19 people were killed when the taxi they were travelling in collided with a heavy-duty truck and burst into flames.

The accident happened on the R28 in Jagersfontein towards Vereeniging just after 12.30pm.

Five children and 14 adults died in the crash, according to Gauteng police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini.

“Five others were taken to hospital, two with serious injuries and three with slight injuries,” he said.

The accident, one of several deadly crashes at the weekend, occurred on the eve of the start of the festive season, which is usually preceded by the launch of the government’s Arrive Alive campaign.

Spokesman for Gauteng Traffic Police Obed Sibasa said preliminary investigations showed that the taxi was overloaded.

He said the taxi was a Quantum which was designed to carry 16 people, including the driver. But in this case, there were 24 occupants.

Sibasa said they were awaiting the reconstruction report of the accident scene to determine exactly what happened.

The taxi was carrying worshippers to church when it smashed into a truck that was travelling from Randfontein to deliver cooking oil to a factory in Sasolburg.

All the people who were in the taxi were ejected and landed on the tar.

Such was the force of the collision that the bonnet of the taxi lay a few metres from the bodies, on shattered glass and blood.

In one of the poignant images from the accident, a church drum and an open Bible lay nearby, drenched from a steady downpour.

The traumatised truck driver, Jabu Dhlomo, said he saw a tyre of the taxi burst as it approached from a distance. The taxi started zigzagging before veering off the road. Dhlomo saw the driver desperately trying to control it but failing.

Noticing the now out of control taxi approaching at high speed, Dhlomo tried to avoid it by swerving off the road and onto the gravel on the side of the road. But his efforts were in vain as the taxi crashed into the truck.

It then spun around, ejecting people before it came to a standstill and burst into flames.

When he got out of the truck, Dhlomo saw bodies lying all over the road. The 28-year-old man said that what he saw scared him.

“It was scary, I have never seen anything like that,” he said.

Dhlomo’s co-driver, Sam Visagie, heard a baby cry.

He ran to the little boy and removed him from the wreckage.

The infant was among the injured taken to hospital.

The owner of the taxi, Nelane Xhensa, later arrived on the scene. He said the people who were in the taxi were worshippers from Sebokeng.

He said he had been at the taxi association's office at around 9am when a preacher and his wife arrived, asking for transport.

The pair told him that the vehicle they were supposed to use to go church had broken down.

“I did not know how many people were going to use the taxi. I just gave him my vehicle and a driver, and am shocked to hear that there were so many people in the vehicle,” he said.

Westonaria Local Municipality mayor Nonkoliso Thunzi was at the scene and said it was the worst accident she had ever seen in the area.

“It is a shock for me. It is very terrible,” she said, urging those who needed information about their loved ones who might have perished in the accident to contact the Westonaria police.