N1 highway closed overnight

2010-03-10 21:05

Johannesburg - The body of a man was found trapped underneath one of the trucks involved in an accident on the N1 North under the Atterbury Bridge on Wednesday night, the Tshwane department of community safety said.

The department reported earlier that no one was killed when a truck transporting iron rods plunged into a cement-mixing truck and three other vehicles before smashing into a crane at a roadworks construction site at 17:00.

It was while cleaning up the scene that the body was discovered underneath the truck, three hours after the accident happened, said spokesperson Console Tleane.

"We cannot say at this stage if the deceased was the driver of the truck because witnesses told us earlier that the truck driver fled the scene following the accident," he said.

Three more people were injured in the accident but only one of them was taken to hospital.


Firefighters put out a blaze caused by a massive accident on the N1 highway under the Atterbury Bridge in Pretoria. (Jaco Marais, Beeld)

The road had to be closed following the accident as the truck burst into flames and overturned following the collision and left the crane "without its legs".

"Parts of the bridge caught fire because of the wooden structures used in the construction. The Tshwane Fire Brigade arrived at the scene within fifteen minutes and managed to put the fire out.

"Both directions of the N1 - north and south-bound - were immediately closed because of the danger posed by the vulnerable crane. There is a risk of the crane tilting because of the unbalanced weights or it being tilted by wind," Tleane said.

The road will be closed overnight at the Atterbury offramp "until the crane is fixed and safe".

Tleane advised motorists to use alternative routes or set aside some extra time for travelling as they would be diverted to other routes.

- SAPA