Be nice to the driver – Mom's last words

2010-08-25 23:25

Jana Breytenbach, Die Burger

Cape Town - "I love you. And be nice to the taxi driver."

These were the last words Rochelle Smith of Eerste River said to her son, Reece, on Wednesday morning.

Minutes later he was one of nine pupils from the Eerste River area who died at 07:10 when the minibus taxi they were travelling in was hit by a train.

Apparently the taxi driver raced, on the wrong side of the road, past a string of cars which had already stopped at the train crossing between the Blackheath and Melton Rose stations.

The booms at the train crossing in Buttskop Street, Blackheath, had already been lowered to prevent motorists from driving accross the train tracks. The train was already close.

According to Billy Jones, provincial police spokesperson, the driver stayed on the wrong side of the road in an attempt to charge over the train tracks.

"The train hit the taxi on the left side and nine pupils died at the scene," said Jones.

Crumpled

The taxi, which was carrying 14 pupils and the driver, was crumpled on all sides.

Four injured pupils were admitted to Tygerberg hospital and one was admitted to the Red Cross children's hospital.

The driver is in a critical condition. The police did not want to say to which hospital he had been admitted.

This is not the first time that lives have been lost at this particular railway crossing.

Worried parents and community members rushed to the scene as news of the crash spread.

Sharon Jephta, Kuils River group police chief, took all the parents of the children who were in the taxi to a house nearby.

Here people received counselling before later identifying their children's bodies at Tygerberg hospital's mortuary.

Little Rock

One parent at the scene said he had to identify his child by his school uniform, since his body was so badly torn apart.

The police are investigating a case of culpable homicide.

Tragically, one of the victims was identified as Liezel August, a girl from Eerste River who was raped and set on fire in 2007. The community later christened her Little Rock for her determination

Her mother, Ingrid August, was in a severe state of shock and received support from family and friends at the scene.

When Die Burger arrived at the scene an area the size of a rugby field had been cordoned off while police were fine-combing the scene.

Hundreds of people gathered around outside the cordoned off accident scene.

Several people mentioned that it wasn't the first time that such a gruesome accident had happened there.

"The drivers don't drive carefully and when you ask them to slow down they swear and scream at you," said Chantel Joshua.