THE death toll from accidents in the province since Christmas Eve on Wednesday is 10, with a combination of wet Eastern Cape roads and stormy seas battering the coast.
However, three ski-boat anglers – one a disabled skipper – were rescued in a Kowie river mouth drama at 7.20am yesterday.
In a grisly find on the Buffalo River the body of a man in jeans was discovered by six schoolboy rowers at 9.50am yesterday.
Meanwhile, police, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), Buffalo City Metro rescue services and provincial health officials are still looking for a swimmer feared to have drowned off Eastern Beach on Christmas Day.
NSRI spokesman Craig Lambinon said the man was swept out to sea by strong rip currents caused by a spring tide and big surf.
In Port Alfred’s Kowie river mouth, a ski-boat stalled in the impact zone, turned side-on and capsized in the surf.
Sixty-year-old paraplegic skipper Johan Cilliers and fellow anglers Dennis Greeves, 72, and Iain Greeves, 45, were in a stable condition in hospital yesterday.
In East London, the rowers, five from Selborne College and one from Merrifield school, “bumped” into a bloated corpse.
Police estimate the man to be aged between 23 and 25. An inquest docket has been opened.
Health spokesman Siyanda Manana said three emergency medical service rescue helicopters were ready for action at East London, Port Elizabeth and Port St John’s beaches.
“We attended to one near-drowning in Port Elizabeth yesterday and the person was successfully resuscitated.”
The SA Weather Service yesterday warned of a rainy week ahead, including New Year’s Day.
Ten people, including a six-year-old girl, have been killed on Eastern Cape roads since Christmas Eve.
With the latest fatalities, the death toll on provincial roads has climbed to almost 30 in the last three weeks.
But Transport Minister Dipuo Peters said the 677 people who died on South Africa’s roads this festive season represented a 35% reduction in fatalities compared with 917 last year.
Peters blamed unsafe overtaking and drunk driving.
Traffic officers said reckless driving and speeding also contributed.
Four of the 10 died on Christmas Day.
A six-year-old girl died crossing the busy R61 between Ngcobo and Mthatha.
One person died on Christmas Day in Mdantsane when two Toyota Quantums collided.
A driver and a passenger were killed on the same day when their vehicle overturned near Flagstaff.
A 25-year-old man also died on the R61 when he collided with a car between the two towns a day later, Arrive Alive provincial spokesman Tshepo Machaea said.
In Ntshilini village near Coffee Bay, a man died after falling from a moving truck on Friday.
A 19-year-old pedestrian died when he was hit by a bakkie on the same day on a gravel road between Hluleka Game Reserve and Ntlaza.
Emergency personnel had to use the jaws of life to extract a dead motorist trapped in his car which struck a tree on the R75 near Graaff-Reinet at 3am on Friday.
A 41-year-old man was killed instantly and four others seriously injured when a car overturned on the R61 near Lusikisiki on Saturday.
A passenger sustained light injuries when a taxi overturned between Queenstown and Whittlesea on Saturday.
Machaea said traffic officials would intensify their festive road safety programmes as hordes of residents were expected to head to the beaches for New Year’s Day. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za
Accident death toll on the rise
However, three ski-boat anglers – one a disabled skipper – were rescued in a Kowie river mouth drama at 7.20am yesterday.
In a grisly find on the Buffalo River the body of a man in jeans was discovered by six schoolboy rowers at 9.50am yesterday.
Meanwhile, police, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), Buffalo City Metro rescue services and provincial health officials are still looking for a swimmer feared to have drowned off Eastern Beach on Christmas Day.
NSRI spokesman Craig Lambinon said the man was swept out to sea by strong rip currents caused by a spring tide and big surf.
In Port Alfred’s Kowie river mouth, a ski-boat stalled in the impact zone, turned side-on and capsized in the surf.
Sixty-year-old paraplegic skipper Johan Cilliers and fellow anglers Dennis Greeves, 72, and Iain Greeves, 45, were in a stable condition in hospital yesterday.
In East London, the rowers, five from Selborne College and one from Merrifield school, “bumped” into a bloated corpse.
Police estimate the man to be aged between 23 and 25. An inquest docket has been opened.
Health spokesman Siyanda Manana said three emergency medical service rescue helicopters were ready for action at East London, Port Elizabeth and Port St John’s beaches.
“We attended to one near-drowning in Port Elizabeth yesterday and the person was successfully resuscitated.”
The SA Weather Service yesterday warned of a rainy week ahead, including New Year’s Day.
Ten people, including a six-year-old girl, have been killed on Eastern Cape roads since Christmas Eve.
With the latest fatalities, the death toll on provincial roads has climbed to almost 30 in the last three weeks.
But Transport Minister Dipuo Peters said the 677 people who died on South Africa’s roads this festive season represented a 35% reduction in fatalities compared with 917 last year.
Peters blamed unsafe overtaking and drunk driving.
Traffic officers said reckless driving and speeding also contributed.
Four of the 10 died on Christmas Day.
A six-year-old girl died crossing the busy R61 between Ngcobo and Mthatha.
One person died on Christmas Day in Mdantsane when two Toyota Quantums collided.
A driver and a passenger were killed on the same day when their vehicle overturned near Flagstaff.
A 25-year-old man also died on the R61 when he collided with a car between the two towns a day later, Arrive Alive provincial spokesman Tshepo Machaea said.
In Ntshilini village near Coffee Bay, a man died after falling from a moving truck on Friday.
A 19-year-old pedestrian died when he was hit by a bakkie on the same day on a gravel road between Hluleka Game Reserve and Ntlaza.
Emergency personnel had to use the jaws of life to extract a dead motorist trapped in his car which struck a tree on the R75 near Graaff-Reinet at 3am on Friday.
A 41-year-old man was killed instantly and four others seriously injured when a car overturned on the R61 near Lusikisiki on Saturday.
A passenger sustained light injuries when a taxi overturned between Queenstown and Whittlesea on Saturday.
Machaea said traffic officials would intensify their festive road safety programmes as hordes of residents were expected to head to the beaches for New Year’s Day. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za
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