Trapped driver freed from twisted wreck
A bakkie driver sustained serious injuries but escaped with his life after crashing into a bus in Walvis Bay.
Firefighters and emergency services personnel struggled for approximately half an hour to free the driver - who was alone in the vehicle at the time of the crash - from the twisted wreck of his Nissan NP200 bakkie.
Medical personnel stabilised him in the vehicle while firefighters used the Jaws of Life to cut through the wreck and a hydraulic jack to free him.
The accident occurred near the entrance to Walvis Bay on the B2 route. The bakkie was travelling from Swakopmund and the bus from Walvis Bay.
The bus driver was uninjured. He was the sole occupant after having dropped off passengers in the harbour town.
According to Johan Kotze from Cars and Guides for Hire, the company that owns the bus, video footage from a dashboard camera in the bus shows it was moving in its (left) lane with three vehicles approaching (right lane) from the direction of Swakopmund.
“Two vehicles passed while the third (a bakkie) entered the left lane - in which the bus was - and smashed into its right front side. The video footage also shows how the driver struggled to control the bus and tried to keep it on the road after it was hit. The bus left the road and ran over a palm tree before it came to a halt in a sand bank.”
Kotze said he was glad that no lives were lost despite considerable damage to the bakkie, which is a write-off, and the brand new bus valued at N$3.5 million.
OTIS FINCK
Firefighters and emergency services personnel struggled for approximately half an hour to free the driver - who was alone in the vehicle at the time of the crash - from the twisted wreck of his Nissan NP200 bakkie.
Medical personnel stabilised him in the vehicle while firefighters used the Jaws of Life to cut through the wreck and a hydraulic jack to free him.
The accident occurred near the entrance to Walvis Bay on the B2 route. The bakkie was travelling from Swakopmund and the bus from Walvis Bay.
The bus driver was uninjured. He was the sole occupant after having dropped off passengers in the harbour town.
According to Johan Kotze from Cars and Guides for Hire, the company that owns the bus, video footage from a dashboard camera in the bus shows it was moving in its (left) lane with three vehicles approaching (right lane) from the direction of Swakopmund.
“Two vehicles passed while the third (a bakkie) entered the left lane - in which the bus was - and smashed into its right front side. The video footage also shows how the driver struggled to control the bus and tried to keep it on the road after it was hit. The bus left the road and ran over a palm tree before it came to a halt in a sand bank.”
Kotze said he was glad that no lives were lost despite considerable damage to the bakkie, which is a write-off, and the brand new bus valued at N$3.5 million.
OTIS FINCK
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