Cape Town - A Bloemfontein father battled in vain to save the life of his 3-year-old daughter after they were involved in a car accident outside Stellenbosch.
The Robberts family was in the Cape Winelands on holiday when their car crashed into a tractor, reported Volksblad.
Franché Robberts, his wife Mariska, their sons Stefan and Morné as well as their nanny, Paulina Nigget, were not seriously injured in the accident.
But Mia, the 3-year-old who was sitting on her mother’s lap at the time of the accident, was killed.
“It will stay with me for the rest of my life. I saw a man in blue clothes on the scene and for a moment thought it was a paramedic or a bystander helping. He was on his phone the whole time and was bending over a little girl who was lying on the ground,” said a man who didn’t want to be identified.
“I walked to him, felt the child’s pulse - she was still warm but already dead. The man was badly shocked and was crying. I then realised it was her father.”
A police spokesperson said they were still looking for an eyewitness who could confirm what had happened.
Robberst later said the family had been on the way back to the wine farm where they had been staying since Saturday when the accident occurred.