|
Mom describes crash hell
27/10/2005 15:44 - (SA)
De Aar - Phumeza Stishi described how she experienced half an hour of every parent's hell when she and her 11-month-old baby were parted after the head-on collision between the Shosholoza Meyl and the Blue Train.
She was treated in hospital at De Aar, South Africa's renowned railway town deep in the Karoo. Here railways stretching hundreds of kilometres from Namibia, the Eastern Cape, Cape Town and Gauteng meet.
"I woke up after being hurled forward against the seats. Suitcases were everywhere, people were screaming while others grabbed their luggage and went outside," Stishi said.
"I eventually found the baby under the seat."
They were travelling on the Shosholoza Meyl to Johannesburg.
Stishi wore a neck brace. Tiny Athenkosi slept peacefully on her back, having escaped injury.
Most passengers were fast asleep when the accident happened at the Deelfontein railway station, between De Aar and Victoria West.
Another mother-baby couple, Landiswa Jaji, 21, and four-month-old Nikho, also escaped serious injury.
"The baby fell under the seat when the accident happened," Jaji said.
They were headed for Kimberley on board the Shosholoza Meyl, which was heading towards Gauteng.
The luxury Blue Train was heading towards Cape Town.
- SAPA
|
News
