Three survive terrifying crash as car plunges down mountain pass

05 October 2020 - 11:56 By Siphokazi Fokazi
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Three people were treated after a car crashed on a mountain pass near Worcester in the Western Cape.
Three people were treated after a car crashed on a mountain pass near Worcester in the Western Cape.
Image: Facebook/Drakenstein Farm Watch

A 30-year-old man is in a stable condition at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town after his car plunged 200m down Bainskloof mountain pass.

According to the Air Mercy Service (AMS), the driver of a white VW vehicle, which was descending the treacherous R301 towards Worcester on Sunday afternoon, lost control of the vehicle resulting in it rolling several times before it landed on its wheels at the Witte River bed.

Tygerberg Hospital spokesperson Laticia Pienaar said the patient who was airlifted to the hospital is now in stable condition. “He is intubated and is still in trauma,” she said.

The service’s Skymed helicopter assisted with the rescue operation of three occupants of the vehicle, two men and a woman, at about 4pm, along with the police, Worcester fire and rescue, Western Cape Traffic Services, ER24 and Emergency Medical Services.

Accident in Bainskloof Pass. Car drops at least 80 mtr into ravine. 3 youngsters injured. Rescue ongoing. Paarl, 4...

Posted by Drakenstein Farm Watch on Sunday, 4 October 2020

In a statement the service commended the members of the public who assisted with both traffic and crowd control during the rescue mission, which was described as “very difficult due to the dense fynbos vegetation”.

“Two SAPS officers descended to the scene from the road surface by starting at one of the trails 200m up from the accident site. Skymed was tasked to proceed with the recovery of the patients.

“One adult male and one adult female clambered to the road above and were treated by the emergency services as they arrived on the scene,” noted AMS in a statement.

The two patients were transported by ambulance to Tygerberg Hospital, while the third had to be airlifted.

The hospital could not give immediate feedback on the condition of the other two.

TimesLIVE


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