Teacher calls ambulance after taxi drops 13 injured pupils off at school after crash

A KwaZulu-Natal teacher was forced to call an ambulance after 13 injured children were dropped off at the school after being involved in a taxi accident on Monday morning.

The taxi crashed down an embankment in Waterfall‚ west of Durban. A teacher told TimesLIVE that after the crash the driver proceeded to move pupils from the taxi‚ without any medical care‚ into another taxi which then took them to two schools.

The teacher from Forest View Primary school called an ambulance service when he saw that 12 pupils at his school were injured.

The teacher claims that the same taxi was involved in a rollover in 2016‚ also involving school children.

“The fact of the matter is that this taxi has now crashed for a second time in the space of a year and a half with overloading. He had 13 kids in that vehicle - which is only able to accommodate seven. The worst part is that he actually removed kids from the taxi and just pushed them on to another taxi.

Supplied

The inside of the vehicle which crashed carrying school children. Photo: Supplied

“One of the children was a four-year-old boy who was taken out of the taxi after the accident and dropped off outside of his school without [the driver] informing any of the teachers about what had happened‚ he was left to fend for himself.

“Luckily the principal of that school heard that the medics were treating kids from our school and she brought him to get checked out by the medics. He was also transported to hospital‚” the teacher said.

Meditech ER Operations Manager‚ Michelle Smith‚ said that her ambulance service was called to the scene of the crash‚ but were then diverted to Forest View Primary after they heard that the pupils had been transported there.

“We took all 13 kids to hospital‚ including the small boy who attended Waterfall Educare Preschool‚” Smith said.

“We have heard reports that this same taxi was involved in another scholar crash‚ but we are unable to verify reports at this stage.”

The Station Commander from Gillits Fire was unable to comment on the state of the taxi or why it crashed.

- TMG Digital