Truck narrowly avoids ploughing into plush Durban hotel

A truck which barrelled down Umhlanga’s Lighthouse Road almost landed up in the dining room of Durban’s plush Oyster Box hotel.

Driver of the truck Mfunwa Mbhamali said he was driving into Umhlanga when he realised there was something wrong with the truck. He said he tried to maintain control of the truck and steer as best as he could. Mbhamali said he pressed the hooter as a warning to those around him.

Leotash Plant Hire truck owner Leon Ramkilawan said he couldn't comment about the incident as he wasn't on site at the time the accident occurred.

Landscaper Brendan Burgess watched the high drama unfold as the out-of-control tipper truck careered down the hill and laid waste to another bakkie before grinding to a halt against the hotel boundary on the promenade.

“I was standing outside on the road and the next thing I heard was the truck hooting and lots of people shouting around us‚” he said.

“I saw him coming down the road and he missed some cars parked on the side of the road. He then hit a small bakkie and then hit the wall of the Oyster Box and nearly landed in the dining room‚” Burgess added.

He said that the driver of the bakkie had obviously heard the shouting and he got out and ran.

“He and the driver of the truck both walked away from this luckily.”

It is understood that a construction truck carrying a payload of soil had barrelled down the hill near the Umhlanga village‚ hitting the parked vehicle and shunting it down toward the beach.

Netcare911 spokesman Shawn Herbst said that it appeared that the truck’s brakes failed.

“The truck collided with a smaller bakkie that was in a parking bay on Lighthouse Road at the time. The driver jumped out and fled as the truck hit his vehicle‚” he said.

“He was not injured but is visibly traumatised‚” Herbst added.

He said that the operator of the heavy goods vehicle was receiving medical care but was in a stable condition.