Truck driver may have lied about cause of crash that killed 18 people‚ says official

It is possible that the truck driver whose vehicle was involved in a deadly crash which claimed the lives of 18 people in Machadodorp near Badplaas lied about how the accident happened, the Mpumalanga Department of Community Safety said on Sunday.

The Mozambican national, Sebastian Macuacua was currently behind bars,  facing 18 culpable homicide charges, said spokesperson Joseph Mabuza.

He had blamed the accident, which happened on Tuesday, on one of two taxi drivers whose vehicles were also involved in the crash.  

His version was that one taxi driver had caused the crash after trying to overtake the other, Mabuza said. 

“Accident reconstruction officials were on the scene and the evidence [collected] as well as the statements from survivors contradicted his version,” said Mabuza.

The truck driver was arrested shortly after his release from hospital a day after the accident.

“He made his first appearance in the Belfast Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday and was remanded in custody,” Mabuza said.

Meanwhile, both of the taxi drivers were among those who had died in the collision.

The death toll had initially been placed at six but had gradually ballooned as more people were removed from the wreckage.

At least a dozen were injured with one being airlifted to hospital.

Those killed were  mineworkers who were being transported to a mine in Nkomati.