‘The truck flew past me, then I heard the bangs and crashes’: KZN road carnage survivor

A distraught Eastern Cape man recounted how trucks and taxis “flew” past him before he heard the “crashes and the bangs” as he desperately tried to get his family to safety.

Speaking from a temporary shelter at the Hilton town hall in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands on Monday, Ayavuya Mankunzi said he and his family were travelling to Johannesburg from the Eastern Cape when they were caught in Monday’s horrendous pile-up that claimed six lives and left dozens injured.

Mankunzi lost a cousin, Athini Langa, 27, who left behind a three-month-old child, while his three-year-old son suffered a broken femur and a fractured left leg. Mankunzi’s mother, father and aunt, who were also in the car escaped serious injury.

He said they were approaching Hilton when a thick fog enveloped the area and made visibility difficult, so he and other drivers reduced speed.

“We slowed down to around 60/70kph, and I put my hazards on, everyone had hazards on. On a steep climb up to Hilton we passed a guy who was frantically flagging down vehicles. I thought to myself, why was the guy hitchhiking on the highway?” he said.

A few metres later, he discovered the reason when he approached a collision between a taxi and a truck in the fast lane.

“I tried to pull over in the yellow lane, but there was already a tanker there, so I pulled over next to it, together with a few other cars who were travelling alongside me. We managed to stop in time [to avoid crashing into the taxi and truck].

“I got out and ran up the highway to help the guy and flag down other cars, but the trucks were coming at proper speeds. A tanker flew past me and then several taxis — I could only see a metre in front of me, the fog was so thick.

“I decided to go back and tell my family to get out of the car and wait on the side of the road, but that’s when I started hearing the crashes and the bangs, the crashes and the bangs ...”

As he got closer, he realised his cousin had got out in the midst of the chaos.

“I presume she realised it was dangerous and pulled my son. Just then I heard a loud bang. I don’t know, I think she threw my son to safety, but a tanker squashed her against the other tanker. There was also a guy trying to help other people get out, and he was squashed between my car and another car. Then it was just bang after bang after bang.”

Mankunzi said he looked for his family in the sea of faces and chaos and found his mother standing on the side of the road.

“I asked her where everyone else was, and she asked me the same. I then ran back to where my car was parked and started calling names. Eventually I heard my son calling, daddy, daddy. I saw him lying there and ran to help him while calling my mom. Then I saw my aunt and my cousin’s three-month-old baby were still trapped in the car. The cars pinned them in there, and we had to break the windows and get them out.”

“That entire situation was heartbreaking. It was carnage and death. If people speak about a movie, that really was a movie. Things were really bad,” he said.

He said his family was distraught at Langa’s death but took consolation that her baby survived.

Considering the amount of vehicles involved in this accident, it’s astonishing there were not many more deaths. The mist was something that I had never seen before.

—  Ward councillor
Kate Janse van Rensburg

Transport minister Sindisiwe Chikunga, who visited the crash site and the injured in hospital, said the official death toll rose to six on Tuesday. She said the department was awaiting results of the investigation into the crash and cautioned against blanket blame on truck drivers.

Ward councillor Kate Janse van Rensburg, who was instrumental in setting up the makeshift shelter for victims of the accident, said the fog was very bad.

“Considering the amount of vehicles involved in this accident, it’s astonishing there were not many more deaths. The mist was something that I had never seen before,” said Janse van Rensburg.

She said they planned to communicate with the transport department and other road stakeholders to set up a dedicated response team.                                           

“When we have had accidents here it has never been clear as to who is liable for which interchange.”

She called for road traffic inspectorate to maintain its visibility in the stretch of the road because of the number of trucks.

uMngeni mayor Chris Pappas thanked the public for “showing compassion and humanity”.

“Many people were stuck in traffic. We’re grateful — the community was incredible,” said Pappas.

Pappas said the main cause of the accident was the number of trucks on the road due to poor rail infrastructure capacity in the country.