WATCH | Man hauls woman to safety after fiery truck crash in northern KZN

Despite plumes of smoke and fire billowing around him, a man rushed to the aid of a woman in a bakkie on the R34 between Vryheid and Ulundi after a fiery crash involving trucks and other vehicles on Monday. 

Frightening scenes were captured on video by a truck driver who came to a stop just before 10am at the scene of a coal truck which had overturned on the R34 in Mpungamhlophe, near Ulundi, earlier in the day.

According to sources, officers were controlling traffic at the accident scene when another truck crashed into vehicles at a high speed, resulting in a brief explosion.  

In the video, a man can be seen rushing from across the street and forcing the passenger door of a bakkie open to free a woman, who runs to safety. 

Lucky Sibisi of KwaZulu Private Ambulance said no-one was killed. 

“Two patients were transported to a local clinic, one was transported privately and another via ambulance.

“Three trucks and two vehicles were involved in the accident,” he said.

The incident comes in the wake of a horrific truck accident on Friday where 19 school pupils and two adults in a bakkie were killed when a truck overtook another truck on the N2 and collided head on with the bakkie. 

Outraged community members, who claim they have been calling for intervention over unruly truck drivers for years, have closed off parts of the N2 since Friday, demanding justice.

Since the closure, trucks have used the R34 as an alternative route.

The driver of the truck involved in the Pongola crash initially fled the scene but handed himself over to authorities at the weekend. 

He appeared in the Pongola magistrate’s court on Monday, where the court ruled against media taking pictures of him due to safety concerns. 

The man, who faces 21 charges of culpable homicide, intends to apply for bail, which the state is set to oppose. 

(This article has been amended to remove a sentence that the N2 and R34 are popular for coal trucks delivering coal to Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT). RBCT has indicated  it does not receive coal by road and said all coal received is by means of rail) 

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