A taxi driver and 13 passengers have been transported to hospital after they were injured when a minibus they were travelling in, crashed on the R21, in Pretoria, South Africa.
Spokesperson for the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD), Lieutenant-Colonel Kelebogile Thepa, in a statement on Thursday, March 30, 2023, said the 45-year-old driver had a seizure and lost control of the vehicle, which knocked down a pedestrian.
“On Wednesday 29 March, 2023, between 8am and 9am, the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department motorcycle unit members operating on the freeway, responded to a fatal crash, on the R21 freeway direction north, by the Benoni/R23 off-ramp, involving the minibus taxi and a pedestrian,” Thepa said.
“The 45-year-old male taxi driver with 13 male and female passengers, between the ages of 31 and 52 years, were transported to the Tembisa Hospital for medical treatment, due to slight and serious injuries sustained in the collision.
“It is not clear at this stage what actually occurred before the crash but, preliminary investigations reveal that, the taxi driver encountered had a seizure while behind the steering wheel. The driver lost control of the minibus, knocked over the 37-year-old male pedestrian, in the full uniform of a well-known private security company and crashed into a traffic light,” Thepa said.
She said medical personnel declared the security guard dead on the scene.
A case of culpable homicide has been registered at the Kempton Park police station, and a detective, has been assigned by the South African Police Service to probe the incident.
“The City of Ekurhuleni, urges members of the community, not to walk on the freeways, as it is prohibited,” Thepa said.