Several people were injured after the driver of a bakkie, who was transporting another bakkie on the back of a trailer from Zimbabwe to Johannesburg, lost control in the Soutpansberg Mountain Pass on the N1 north just outside Louis Trichardt on Tuesday morning, 16 January. The injured passengers were rushed to Louis Trichardt Memorial Hospital.
Both bakkies were overloaded with passengers and their luggage, including the bakkie on the trailer.
According to one of the injured people, Mr Elvis Sibanda, who suffered minor injuries to his head and a fractured left foot, the driver was allegedly driving at high speed when he overtook another car heading south near the Clouds End Hotel and lost control over his vehicle. The trailer he was pulling started to zig-zag dangerously, crashing into the one that was pulling it and then overturning with the passengers at the back.
The vehicle they were overtaking was not hit. Sibanda said they had survived by the grace of God alone. "It was a frightening experience," he said.