A driver killed; two others survived unharmed in a graphic motor vehicle accident on N3freeway north bound in the City of Ekurhuleni. A graphic crash involving three trucks on the N3 northbound between Elands and Geldenhuys interchanges in the City of Ekurhuleni resulted with a truck driver being killed instantly and the other two surviving without injuries. The incident happened on Friday the 07 th August 2020 around 14H58 in the afternoon. Five lanes of the seven were completely closed, negatively affecting the traffic flow throughout the pick period. City of Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services (DEMS) rescue team from Germiston central fire station received the call at 14H58 and promptly responded to the scene to render necessary interventions.
On scene size-up, one driver from a truck was found motionless still trapped behind the steering wheel of his truck while the drivers of the other two trucks escaped without visible injuries as on scene.One truck with the deceased driver had about four thousand litres of flammable Ethanol contained in four drums of a thousand litre capacity each. One drum was already spilled empty across the road as on arrival of the rescue team. The second truck had about 3,6 tons of Xanthates granules which are flammable as well. The third articulate truck was fully loaded with bags of cement.The entrapped patient was recovered by rescue team after an intense battle using specialised Hydraulic rescue tools “Jaws of Life”. The patient was then declared deceased on scene by the paramedics before his mortal remains were transported from the scene by Forensic Pathology to an appropriate facility.It is alleged that an articulate truck had mechanical breakdown and was stationary in the middle of the freeway, hence the two smaller trucks following each other crashed on it one after another fatally wounding the front truck driver.
All relevant resources were called on scene including water tanker and Foam tender from the local fire station due to hazardous chemical and fire risk identified.The scene was handed over to the metropolitan police officers under the City of Ekurhuleni for further road rehabilitation and investigations.
