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One dead, four injured after truck loses control, ploughs into cars near the Marianhill Toll Plaza in Durban
A speeding truck lost control and ploughed into trucks and cars travelling in the fast lane of the N3 highway, before the Marianhill Toll Plaza in Durban resulting in one fatality and four injured on Thursday morning, 3 December 2020 just before 10h00am. The N3 highway was closed for the better part of the day. Videos of the truck driver’s dashcam footage show the truck driver being filmed in the footage was in the middle lane driving slowly when suddenly his vehicle was scraped and bumped from behind by another truck. The second truck appears to be speeding in the right-hand lane, then lost control and ploughed into other cars travelling in the fast lane. Debris can be seen scattered across the right lane of the highway. The truck was travelling on a downslope and after crashing into other cars and another truck, it rolled down a nearby embankment. Gillian Graham, station commander at Gillits Fire Station, eThekwini Fire and Emergency Service, reported, “Upon arrival, Brigade stopped in a vend-off position blocking the two affected lanes by the incident. There was carnage across two lanes with five light motor vehicles and three heavy commercial trucks stopped in the middle lane. One truck was on its side on the opposite carriageway having gone down the centre medium embankment. One person was declared dead at the scene, despite advanced life support interventions by paramedics. Reports indicate multiple other patients sustained minor to moderate injuries. Brigade instructed Metro Police to close the east bound N3 freeway while the incident took place. Brigade had a line of 38mm hose on standby. No entrapments were reported and Brigade covered fuel spills with sand. Vehicles power supplies were also isolated. learner fire fighters GD Mkhize and MB Shabane as well as senior fire fighter ML Chili were on scene with me.”
SC Graham added, “Footage from a dashcam showed the Piltrans Logistics truck ploughing through the cars on the fast lane before going through the centre medium. The vehicle was carrying paving bricks, which part of the load was dislodged across the roadway. Spilltech was called in by Piltrans to deal with the spillage and recovery of the lost load. The heavy commercial trucks on the east bound freeway were able to drive away. SAPS did their investigation and photographs before vehicles were recovered.” Source: Gillian Graham, station commander, Gillits Fire Station, eThekwini Fire and Emergency Service, Arrive Alive |
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