Road Carnage Amidst Strike
Amidst the strike action with government health departments, as well as the downing of tools by government ambulance services, the two largest private Emergency Medical Service (EMS) companies found themselves extremely busy “keeping Durban together” last night. Extra resources arrived from our Johannesburg Head Office yesterday evening and were immediately put into service by the additional staff that we called in.
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Aside from the large volumes of ambulance transfers given to us by the Provincial Health Operations Centre in Pietermaritzburg, to transfer ill or injured (or pregnant) patients between government and/or private hospitals, there were a large number of serious road accidents and trauma calls on the streets of Durban and surrounds last night.
To start off the evening, our colleagues in the Metro Police were involved in an accident at the corners of Grey (Dr Yusuf Dadoo) street and West street shortly after 7pm last night. The Metro Police patrol vehicle was heading south along Dr Yusuf Dadoo street and the two officers were waiting for the red traffic light to change when a BMW drove into the back of them at speed. This baffled the emergency personnel as they were the only two vehicles present on a 3 lane road. The driver of the BMW sheepishly acknowledged that perhaps the Metro Police were the LAST people that he should have driven into the back of. Both Metro Police officers were taken to St Augustines hospital in Durban with neck pain, the occupants of the BMW, who still had an open beer bottle in the cab, remain uninjured. We left the scene before they were charged and are not sure if they were charged by the Metro Police Captain who arrived to take charge.
The night continued and soon we were rushing to a report of a serious collision at the corners of Underwood road and Cavell street in Mosely Park. This accident occurred just before 10pm. A family of three, traveling in a white Nissan, were traveling down Underwood road towards Queensburgh when a maroon Isuzu bakkie, fitted with a bulbar, allegedly turned in front of them and they two vehicles collided with great force. The bonnet of the Nissan was extensively damaged. The driver of the Nissan, a man in his late 20’s, was still lying in his car when ER24 paramedics arrived. He was seriously injured and was placed on a drip at the scene by paramedics before they carefully extricated him from his mangled wreck. His young wife was also seriously injured and their young 3 year old daughter escaped injury (she was strapped into her child car seat in the back of the car), but was extremely traumatized by the crash and was crying uncontrollably. All three were taken by ambulance to Westville hospital, where the parents are in a stable condition.
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The driver of the bakkie fled the scene of the accident without bothering to see if anybody was injured in the accident. The Isuzu was extensively damaged and police and paramedics remain baffled as to how the vehicle was able to be driven away. Unfortunately for the heartless driver, who was obviously trying to hide something, his number plate fell off on impact, and as he was in too much of a hurry to leave, to notice. Police ran a vehicle check (on the E-Natis system from another province as “ours still isn’t working”) and managed to trace the vehicle back to 27 Schooldale avenue in Nirvana Hills, Shallcross. The police immediately drove to the residence and found the Isuzu bakkie, but highly coincidentally, the occupants had left in another vehicle. The driver had attempted to conceal the accident damage by parking next to a large truck in his yard and then parked another vehicle behind it. Metro Police officers and the SAPS questioned the ladies that were at the house and found that the driver and his brother-in-law were the occupants of the bakkie. Attempts to contact the men by cellular phone failed.
In another serious accident at the corners of Berea road and Cleaver road in Durban, a silver Corsa Lite carrying white youngsters believed to be in their early 20’s or late teens, collided with a white BMW carrying black men and women believed to be in their late 20’s. The accident occurred at 1am when the Corsa Lite, which was traveling south along Cleaver road allegedly traveled through a red robot and collided into the BMW which was traveling west along Berea road. The force of the crash caused the BMW to spin out of control and collide into a light pole. Two of the occupants of the BMW were seriously injured and were taken by ambulance to St Augustines hospital where they are in a serious but stable condition. The driver of the Corsa Lite sustained soft tissue injuries to his neck and was placed in a neck brace by paramedics at the scene. When asked why they traveled through the red robot, the Corsa driven alleged that he felt that he was about to be hijacked and surged forward. Although there was a strong police presence at the scene, there were no signs of any suspicious looking hijackers in the vicinity.
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This intersection has a recorded accident every weekend for the last 6 weeks, and the residents in the block of flats are remembering the ER24 paramedics by name!
Shortly after 3am I attended a call on the N2 south just before the Inanda offramp where a white Kempster Hire bakkie, carrying three occupants (2 black females and 1 black male – driver) lost control of the vehicle, traversed the crash barrier and collided at speed with the concrete pillar of a footbridge. The driver of the bakkie was killed on impact whilst his two passengers were found in a critical condition, and lying on top of each other in a mangled heap within the twisted metal wreckage. The impact was so great that throughout the intricate rescue, using the Jaws of Life, the bakkie remained firmly embedded in the concrete pillar.
Metro Fire department from Durban North / Umhlanga assisted the ER24 paramedics to carefully extract the critically injured women from the wreck. They were both taken to Addington hospital with multiple injuries, where miraculously, the skeleton nursing staff on duty accepted the patients and treated them. ER24 paramedics declared the driver deceased at the scene. According to a family member who arrived at the scene, the three were returning from a funeral in Tongaat and were heading home to Westville when the tragedy occurred.
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Aside from the large volumes of ambulance transfers given to us by the Provincial Health Operations Centre in Pietermaritzburg, to transfer ill or injured (or pregnant) patients between government and/or private hospitals, there were a large number of serious road accidents and trauma calls on the streets of Durban and surrounds last night.To start off the evening, our colleagues in the Metro Police were involved in an accident at the corners of Grey (Dr Yusuf Dadoo) street and West street shortly after 7pm last night. The Metro Police patrol vehicle was heading south along Dr Yusuf Dadoo street and the two officers were waiting for the red traffic light to change when a BMW drove into the back of them at speed. This baffled the emergency personnel as they were the only two vehicles present on a 3 lane road. The driver of the BMW sheepishly acknowledged that perhaps the Metro Police were the LAST people that he should have driven into the back of. Both Metro Police officers were taken to St Augustines hospital in Durban with neck pain, the occupants of the BMW, who still had an open beer bottle in the cab, remain uninjured. We left the scene before they were charged and are not sure if they were charged by the Metro Police Captain who arrived to take charge.
The night continued and soon we were rushing to a report of a serious collision at the corners of Underwood road and Cavell street in Mosely Park. This accident occurred just before 10pm. A family of three, traveling in a white Nissan, were traveling down Underwood road towards Queensburgh when a maroon Isuzu bakkie, fitted with a bulbar, allegedly turned in front of them and they two vehicles collided with great force. The bonnet of the Nissan was extensively damaged. The driver of the Nissan, a man in his late 20’s, was still lying in his car when ER24 paramedics arrived. He was seriously injured and was placed on a drip at the scene by paramedics before they carefully extricated him from his mangled wreck. His young wife was also seriously injured and their young 3 year old daughter escaped injury (she was strapped into her child car seat in the back of the car), but was extremely traumatized by the crash and was crying uncontrollably. All three were taken by ambulance to Westville hospital, where the parents are in a stable condition.
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The driver of the bakkie fled the scene of the accident without bothering to see if anybody was injured in the accident. The Isuzu was extensively damaged and police and paramedics remain baffled as to how the vehicle was able to be driven away. Unfortunately for the heartless driver, who was obviously trying to hide something, his number plate fell off on impact, and as he was in too much of a hurry to leave, to notice. Police ran a vehicle check (on the E-Natis system from another province as “ours still isn’t working”) and managed to trace the vehicle back to 27 Schooldale avenue in Nirvana Hills, Shallcross. The police immediately drove to the residence and found the Isuzu bakkie, but highly coincidentally, the occupants had left in another vehicle. The driver had attempted to conceal the accident damage by parking next to a large truck in his yard and then parked another vehicle behind it. Metro Police officers and the SAPS questioned the ladies that were at the house and found that the driver and his brother-in-law were the occupants of the bakkie. Attempts to contact the men by cellular phone failed.
In another serious accident at the corners of Berea road and Cleaver road in Durban, a silver Corsa Lite carrying white youngsters believed to be in their early 20’s or late teens, collided with a white BMW carrying black men and women believed to be in their late 20’s. The accident occurred at 1am when the Corsa Lite, which was traveling south along Cleaver road allegedly traveled through a red robot and collided into the BMW which was traveling west along Berea road. The force of the crash caused the BMW to spin out of control and collide into a light pole. Two of the occupants of the BMW were seriously injured and were taken by ambulance to St Augustines hospital where they are in a serious but stable condition. The driver of the Corsa Lite sustained soft tissue injuries to his neck and was placed in a neck brace by paramedics at the scene. When asked why they traveled through the red robot, the Corsa driven alleged that he felt that he was about to be hijacked and surged forward. Although there was a strong police presence at the scene, there were no signs of any suspicious looking hijackers in the vicinity.
.jpg)
This intersection has a recorded accident every weekend for the last 6 weeks, and the residents in the block of flats are remembering the ER24 paramedics by name!
Shortly after 3am I attended a call on the N2 south just before the Inanda offramp where a white Kempster Hire bakkie, carrying three occupants (2 black females and 1 black male – driver) lost control of the vehicle, traversed the crash barrier and collided at speed with the concrete pillar of a footbridge. The driver of the bakkie was killed on impact whilst his two passengers were found in a critical condition, and lying on top of each other in a mangled heap within the twisted metal wreckage. The impact was so great that throughout the intricate rescue, using the Jaws of Life, the bakkie remained firmly embedded in the concrete pillar.
Metro Fire department from Durban North / Umhlanga assisted the ER24 paramedics to carefully extract the critically injured women from the wreck. They were both taken to Addington hospital with multiple injuries, where miraculously, the skeleton nursing staff on duty accepted the patients and treated them. ER24 paramedics declared the driver deceased at the scene. According to a family member who arrived at the scene, the three were returning from a funeral in Tongaat and were heading home to Westville when the tragedy occurred.
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