9 die fiery death
2004-12-21 14:04
Johannesburg - Nine people died in a fire and four others, including a two-year-old girl, were killed in separate eastern Free State road accidents, police reported on Tuesday.
Captain Motarafi Ntepe said a Toyota Prado with nine occupants caught fire after it collided head-on with a truck on the N3 road near Warden on Monday at 01:30.
"The nine occupants of the Prado which was engulfed in flames were charred to death," said Ntepe.
She said the truck tractor also caught alight but its three occupants sustained slight injuries and were taken to the Thebe Provincial Hospital. The accident occurred about 18 kilometres from Warden.
According to Ntepe the truck driver had tried to avoid a collision with another vehicle that had been overtaking on the barrier line but lost control of the truck and collided with the Prado, which was also oncoming.
"The police are busy with investigations to establish ownership of the Prado and its occupants," Ntepe said.
In another accident at 01:00 on Monday, Mphoswane Radebe, 33, was killed when his BMW overturned after its tyre burst on the N1 road about 10 kilometres from Winburg. Radebe died on the scene.
Ntepe said another occupant of the car - a woman who had not been identified - was seriously injured. She was taken to Winburg Hospital and later transferred to Bongani Hospital in Welkom.
On Sunday at 13:00, 40-year-old Gideon Steyn from Pretoria and his daughter Aneke, aged two, died on the N3 road near Warden after his car had overturned, also due to a burst tyre.
Steyn's wife Annelise and their four-year-old daughter Carla survived the crash and were taken to a Medi-Clinic in Bethlehem.
On the same day, said Ntepe, a pedestrian was killed after he was knocked down by a maroon Mazda about 30 kilometres from Frankfort. The man was yet to be identified.
Cases of culpable homicide were being investigated.
- SAPA