Mom-to-be in snow ordeal
2006-08-19 09:52
Pietermaritzburg - A massive rescue operation involving emergency rescue services in two provinces was launched when a car taking a heavily pregnant woman to hospital crashed in thick snow near Mount Fletcher.
KwaZulu-Natal emergency rescue services were standing by in case they were needed and they were "fantastic", said Antoinette Faye, a charter co-ordinator with East London Air Services.
The incident has had unexpected positive consequences. The liaison between the two provinces has shown the state of preparedness of the KZN emergency rescue services and their strong networking provided an example to the Eastern Cape services, she said.
A KZN representative is to visit East London shortly to help them improve their co-ordination of rescues in the area.
Car crashed in heavy snow
The pregnant woman, Nontobeko Vokwana, 43, who is near full-term in her pregnancy, was travelling with two family members on a gravel road between Maclear and Mount Fletcher at 09:00 on Wednesday when their vehicle slid in heavy snow and crashed. She was on her way for a check-up, said her boyfriend, Wycliff Senge.
Crying and complaining of injuries, Vokwana phoned Senge on her cellphone to ask him to call for help. He panicked when her phone suddenly went dead and he was unable to reach her by phone again, he said.
A desperately worried Senge, who was in Butterworth at the time, dialled
1023 for help and was told to call rescue services in Queenstown, who told him that the weather was so poor that they were unable to help.
Air Force contacted
Another call to 1023 led him to the Air Force in Durban and a woman he said was extremely helpful advised him to drive immediately to the accident scene and she would alert all the emergency rescue services.
While Senge was driving the 160km to the crash site, the provincial health department in Pietermaritzburg was notified of the pregnant woman's plight and in turn contacted East London Air Services, a company contracted to the department to carry out emergency medical rescue services in the area for non-medical aid patients.
Emergency services on standby
A Metro ambulance was despatched from Queenstown but it was unable to locate Vokwana, said Faye, who then contacted Senge in an attempt to work out the exact location before launching the rescue operation.
"He was in an absolute state. The worst thing was that the disaster management team for our area was doing training at Tiffendale (ski resort) but they were snowed in and couldn't get out to help," she said.
"We had everybody on standby, all emergency rescue services in KwaZulu-Natal from the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) to Mountain Rescue and they were fantastic," she said.
"We were ready to take a paramedic to her in a fixed-wing aeroplane and possibly to despatch a helicopter from KwaZulu-Natal."
However, they were not prepared to go out without a precise location. Faye was unable to reach Vokwana on her cellphone so she turned to MTN for help.
Cellphone call traced
Tracing a call Vokwana had made on her phone shortly after 11am, which was relayed from a tower at Vipan Farm, MTN managed to provide Faye with co-ordinates for the pregnant woman's location.
In the meantime, after more than two hours of driving Senge arrived at the scene but his girlfriend and her relatives were nowhere to be found. He phoned Faye and she advised him to speak to some boys he found nearby, who told him they had seen an ambulance and police vehicle arrive and help the stricken occupants right their car. They then drove off.
Help had reached her
When Faye heard that help had reached the pregnant woman, the emergency rescue services on standby stood down, she said.
Senge drove to the hospitals in Maclear and Mount Fletcher but found that Vokwana had not been admitted to either.
He then contacted the station commissioner of a local police station who knew of Vokwana's family and he drove to their home to find her there, safe and sound.
Vokwana suffered only minor injuries in the accident and is now awaiting the arrival of their first baby, Senge said.