Motorists driving on the Erasmia/Laudium link road, were caught in a traffic jam this past Wednesday, in what has been described as a freak incident, when a car that rolled out of control, caught alight, after hitting a wall.
The incident which occurred around midday, shocked the owner of the car and others who tried to assist, when the car first presented with mechanical problems and then all of a sudden burst into flames.
Owner of the car, (a silver Mercedes Benz), Sakkie Saaiman, who resides on Bart Joubert Street, Erasmia, explained to the Laudium Sun, the surprising events that led to his car being destroyed by fire. “I was going up from my home towards Laudium. As I was driving through Barbara Coetzer Street, approaching the circle at Liesching and Barbara Coetzer Street, all of a sudden my car, a Mercedes Benz, could not get into gear. I thought it was a small problem. I then tried to push the car, as it was causing a traffic jam, thinking that I would get it to the side and then see what the problem was. But the car refused to move. I then switched off the car and restarted it, thinking that would help, but it did not. Then, I managed to get the car into neutral gear, but it starting rolling backwards, as the road was at a steep incline where I was stuck. I tried applying brakes but that also did not help. Somehow, I then managed to steer the car into an open ground. Finally the car stopped after hitting a wall and fortunately I managed to get out of the car. While I was thinking about who to call, there were a number of people who saw the car rolling backwards and came to my rescue, offering assistance. The next thing, I started smelling petrol, and I quickly went to my car to get my personal things out, but there were people pushing me away, saying that everyone should move far away from the car as it was about to explode. What was very distressing is that when I tried to open the council fire hydrant that was nearby, it was not working. I could have saved my car and besides what if there was a fire at one of the nearby houses. Lives could have been lost because of the fire hydrants not working. This is absolutely ridiculous. I hold the council responsible for the extent of my car damages. Later on we discovered there was water in another fire hydrant, not far away.”Eyewitness, Feroza Rosé Khan, a resident of Party Street, Erasmia, told the Laudium Sun, “We were going to Laudium to buy a few items that we needed. As we just turned from Liesching Street into Barbara Coetzer Street, at the circle, we noticed an elderly uncle sitting in a Merc, which was right at a wall. It seemed the car had just collided into the wall, as the uncle then got out. I immediately sensed something was wrong and I then told my husband, Rashid, to drive towards the Merc and help the uncle who seemed in distress. When we get to him, I was puzzled as to how the car got there. But after he explained, it all made sense how the Merc hit the wall like that. We assisted him, trying to pull the car back, but suddenly we smelt petrol and the next think the car caught fire. The uncle went back to his car, trying to take whatever belongings he had in his car, but my husband was pulling him away from the car, saying that the car could explode at any time. I quickly sent out a message for assistance, and in the meanwhile we opened the emergency water hydrant, but there was no water coming out. It was dry! We all were so disappointed that we could not even depend on the council during an emergency. The level of service delivery has certainly dropped completely. This is a very sad state of affairs that we are living in. By the time the fire engines came, the car was completely destroyed and ironically, we discovered that there was water in another fire hydrant.”
