Teen lucky to be alive after steel barrier slices through car

A teenage driver is lucky to be alive after a crash which saw a steel barrier slice through his car – and the driver’s seat – in Durban on Friday.

Reaction Unit South Africa spokesman Prem Balram said that the 19-year-old driver had come within centimetres of certain death.

He said that medics had rushed to a report of a crash on Inanda Road in Dawncrest and arrived to find a car had crashed into a roadside barrier.

“A steel barrier had penetrated through the front of the car and exited through the tail light.

“The barrier pinned the driver to the seat. Paramedics stabilized the entrapped driver and called the eThekweni Fire Department‚ with fire-fighters using the Jaws of Life and an angle grinder to free him‚” Balram said.

He was then transported to hospital in a stable condition.