11 more die on notorious N2

At least 11 people died in two horrific accidents on the Eastern Cape’s notorious N2 at the weekend.

Late yesterday, emergency workers were called to a third major accident, this one between Grahamstown and Peddie.

By the print deadline yesterday transport authorities were still waiting for relatives to come forward and claim the bodies of those who died in one accident on the road between Mthatha and Dutywa on Friday night, MEC Weziwe Tikana said.

In one of the worst accidents since the start of the year, eight people were killed instantly in that accident, when an Opel Corsa collided with a Toyota Avanza.

Eastern Cape provincial Arrive Alive spokesman Tshepo Machaea said the two cars were travelling in the same direction when the accident took place near Timane village about 10km from Dutywa shortly before 8pm.

“One of the cars made a U-turn on the road and the other car, which was following, smashed into it,” he said.

“Eight people, five of them women, died on the spot and one person was rushed to hospital with serious injuries.”

The injured person, believed to be a teacher from a Libode school, died in hospital on Saturday night.

“We believe the teacher was returning from East London,” added Machaea.

He said emergency personnel needed the jaws of life to extract the bodies from the wreckage.

The N2 was closed to traffic for more than two hours.

“This was definitely one of the most horrific accidents we have had on our roads this year,” said Machaea.

A further two people were killed near Grahamstown on Valentine’s Day when a small truck collided with an articulated horse-and-trailer carrying thousands of fresh tomatoes.

The accident occurred at 4am on the N2 just past the Lalibela Game Reserve. Both vehicles were travelling towards Port Elizabeth.

Police spokesman Lieutenant Luvuyo Mjekula said the two who died were passengers in the truck. They were killed on impact.

“It seems the driver of the articulated truck, driving in front, lost control causing the trailer to swerve into the other truck.”

Mjekula said the driver of the truck had miraculously survived.

“He was treated at the scene and taken to hospital,” he said.

The crash caused significant traffic backup as the two lanes were closed for about five hours. Motorists travelling from Port Elizabeth to Grahamstown had to detour via Port Alfred and those travelling to Port Elizabeth re-routed to Alexandria.

In the aftermath of the two accidents, MEC Tikana expressed concern that so many lives had been lost on the roads.

She said the department was waiting for families of the victims of Friday’s accident to come forward to claim their bodies.

“It’s been more than three days now.

"Our challenge is to teach people to write down contact numbers of those who live where they are travelling to, so it becomes easier to trace them should a tragedy happen,” said Tikana

She pinned some of the blame for road accidents on drivers, saying it was clear some drove recklessly with little regard for the rules on the roads.

Machaea said traffic officials were concerned at the high number of deaths on what is regarded as the country’s most dangerous stretch of road.

“Of particular concern is the fact human error was involved in the accidents. We urge drivers to be more careful so as to avoid more road carnage.”

His words were echoed by the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union newly-formed Eastern Cape task team.

Task team member Sindisile Zamisa said most accidents took place on weekends.

The latest carnage has brought to 15 the number of people killed on the N2 in the past three weeks. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za/ zwangam@dispatch.co.za