Chaos ensued along the D96 (Vulintaba Road) on Tuesday afternoon, November 27, when a bus overturned and erupted into flames.
Emergency personnel rushed to the scene to extinguish the flames and attend to the passengers. Fortunately, none of the passengers sustained serious injuries. Prior to the fire, the passengers managed to escape to safety.
But what happened? What caused the bus transporting several Vulintaba staff members to overturn and start burning?
Henry van der Linde, the Marketing Manager of Vulintaba, explained there was an issue with the vehicle’s gears while going uphill.
“It started rolling back towards a ditch. The driver turned the bus, so it would miss the ditch. In the process, it turned over. It then caught alight.”
An eyewitness posted on social media that the vehicle was not road worthy. Adding the staff have complained about the issue prior to the incident.
However, these allegations are unfounded. The driver of the bus has been transporting Vulintaba staff for over a year. During this time, Mr van der Linde claims Vulintaba receives road worth certification on a regular basis. This is to ensure the lives of the staff are not put in jeopardy.
“We actually received the roadworthiness certificate yesterday, before the incident took place. We’re grateful that no one was seriously injured and most of the staff are back at work,” he says.
While claiming the incident was an unfortunate accident, Mr van der Linde claims the Vulintaba management will be implementing further safety measures to safeguard staff from potential incidents in the future.
Well done to the emergency personnel for a timeous response and attending to the incident.
