Six people were killed on Eastern Cape roads at the weekend, five of them in one horror smash.
The cars they were travelling in collided on the road between Dutywa and Willowvale.
In another incident, six taxi passengers were injured when a hijacked truck ploughed into the vehicle they were disembarking from near Qunu.
Police spokesman Captain Jackson Manatha said: “A head-on collision between two sedans caused the death of five people. The incident occurred near Weza Village just outside Willowvale.”
Manatha said four people died on the scene.
“The other male occupant later died at Butterworth Hospital while two others are still at the same hospital. It could not be immediately established if the drivers were among those who died,” said Manatha.
The identities of the deceased are still being withheld until their next-of-kin have been informed.
In the other fatal accident, a taxi driver was killed and eight passengers were seriously injured when the driver lost control of the vehicle while travelling on the N2 near Highgate in East London.
It is alleged the driver was speeding around a curve on the highway when the vehicle mounted the bank for about five metres before rolling back onto the N2.
The taxi was apparently travelling from Mdantsane towards Hemingways yesterday morning.
On the same stretch of road two other accidents occurred after one driver failed to slow down when traffic officers ordered him or her to do so.
In the hijacking incident, a truck driver on his way to the Western Cape from Mthatha was stabbed by two passengers who sped off in the vehicle and ploughed into a stationary minibus taxi near Qunu on Saturday evening.
The driver, who was from Cape Town, had just finished loading some goods in Mthatha and was heading back.
According to the driver, who asked not to be named for fear of being attacked again, his attackers were two men who had assisted him loading the goods. They asked for a lift as he was heading back to Cape Town at about 7pm.
The incident occurred near the turnoff that leads to the Nelson Mandela Museum in Qunu.
“They took me to the forest and tied me to a tree in the gumtree plantation, but I managed to free myself and ran away,” he said.
The two robbers in his flatbed truck collided with a stationary Toyota Quantum minibus taxi which was offloading passengers.
The taxi was badly damaged and the two men fled on foot, leaving at least six passengers injured.
The taxi driver and owner, Phumzile Jikija, said that he was ferrying passengers from Mthatha to Mgqumo village.
“I heard a big bang and the taxi jumped forward with force. At least six passengers had minor injuries,” said Jikija on Saturday night at the scene of accident.
His brand new taxi, bought barely two months ago, was now reduced to wreckage.
“I am relieved that there is no life lost and no serious injuries,” he said. But this is a real setback for me.”
Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Mzukisi Fatyela said that a case of hijacking and attempted murder had been opened with the Bhityi police and investigation was continuing.
They hoped to make arrests soon, he added. — lulamilef@dispatch.co.za
Six killed in East Cape crashes
The cars they were travelling in collided on the road between Dutywa and Willowvale.
In another incident, six taxi passengers were injured when a hijacked truck ploughed into the vehicle they were disembarking from near Qunu.
Police spokesman Captain Jackson Manatha said: “A head-on collision between two sedans caused the death of five people. The incident occurred near Weza Village just outside Willowvale.”
Manatha said four people died on the scene.
“The other male occupant later died at Butterworth Hospital while two others are still at the same hospital. It could not be immediately established if the drivers were among those who died,” said Manatha.
The identities of the deceased are still being withheld until their next-of-kin have been informed.
In the other fatal accident, a taxi driver was killed and eight passengers were seriously injured when the driver lost control of the vehicle while travelling on the N2 near Highgate in East London.
It is alleged the driver was speeding around a curve on the highway when the vehicle mounted the bank for about five metres before rolling back onto the N2.
The taxi was apparently travelling from Mdantsane towards Hemingways yesterday morning.
On the same stretch of road two other accidents occurred after one driver failed to slow down when traffic officers ordered him or her to do so.
In the hijacking incident, a truck driver on his way to the Western Cape from Mthatha was stabbed by two passengers who sped off in the vehicle and ploughed into a stationary minibus taxi near Qunu on Saturday evening.
The driver, who was from Cape Town, had just finished loading some goods in Mthatha and was heading back.
According to the driver, who asked not to be named for fear of being attacked again, his attackers were two men who had assisted him loading the goods. They asked for a lift as he was heading back to Cape Town at about 7pm.
The incident occurred near the turnoff that leads to the Nelson Mandela Museum in Qunu.
“They took me to the forest and tied me to a tree in the gumtree plantation, but I managed to free myself and ran away,” he said.
The two robbers in his flatbed truck collided with a stationary Toyota Quantum minibus taxi which was offloading passengers.
The taxi was badly damaged and the two men fled on foot, leaving at least six passengers injured.
The taxi driver and owner, Phumzile Jikija, said that he was ferrying passengers from Mthatha to Mgqumo village.
“I heard a big bang and the taxi jumped forward with force. At least six passengers had minor injuries,” said Jikija on Saturday night at the scene of accident.
His brand new taxi, bought barely two months ago, was now reduced to wreckage.
“I am relieved that there is no life lost and no serious injuries,” he said. But this is a real setback for me.”
Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Mzukisi Fatyela said that a case of hijacking and attempted murder had been opened with the Bhityi police and investigation was continuing.
They hoped to make arrests soon, he added. — lulamilef@dispatch.co.za
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