Eyewitness accounts of fatal taxi crash
'What are you doing? We are going to die!' - frantic screams by taxi passengers
THIS was the first hand account of a passenger involved in the horrific taxi-truck crash that claimed four lives on the N2 between Empangeni and eNseleni last Sunday.
Nhlanhla Mthembu was one of the patients who was a passenger in the taxi and was treated for minor injuries following the accident.
According to Mthembu she witnessed everything leading up to the accident.
‘I was seated at the back of the taxi, but on the left hand side.
‘I saw the passenger behind the driver lean forward put his arm around the drivers neck and begin to strangle him.
‘Passengers were screaming, ‘What are you doing? We are going to die!”
Mthembu admitted that there was no form of argument between passenger and driver prior to the incident.
The Zululand Observer can confirm that the alleged psychiatric patient who caused the taxi-truck accident on the N2 between Empangeni and eNseleni has been identified as Nkosinathi Myeni (34).
According to our sources, taxi driver Ntethelelo Ntuli, a nurse Silindile Mthethewa, Ethiopian national Rafik James and a firefighter at the uMfolozi Municipality based at eNseleni, Nkosinathi Myeni, were the four people who lost their lives last Sunday morning.
It was alleged that Myeni put his arm around Ntuli’s neck in an attempt to choke him as they approached the Enseleni Nature Reserve, following which Ntuli swerved and crashed into an oncoming truck.
History of psychological problems
In an exclusive interview with the ZO, Myeni’s uncle Samson Nyawo said his nephew has a history of psychological problems.
Nyawo and Myeni’s mother were in the taxi when the accident occurred.
He described the events that led up to that dreadful morning.
‘Nkosinathi, his mother and I attended a family wedding on Saturday. After the wedding, Nkosinathi started behaving strangely.
‘He was seeing things, showing signs of abnormality and acting violently.
‘We then called the police to come and fetch him to take him to the eNseleni clinic.
‘We accompanied the police to the clinic, where they told us he had to be referred to Ngwelezana Hospital because they could not treat him.
‘We went to Ngwelezana with the police that same evening where doctors attended to him and gave him medication.’
According to Nyawo, his nephew’s behaviour slowly began to normalize.
‘While he was being treated by the doctors the police decided to leave and we were left without transport home and we had to spend the night at the hospital.
‘On Sunday morning we went to the Ngwelezana satellite police station to explain our transport predicament, but no police vehicles were available to help us at the time and we had to take taxis.
According to Nyawo, just before the accident took place he heard some of the taxi passengers screaming, but could not see what was going on.
Last week Transport, Community Safety and Liaison MEC Mxolisi Kaunda ordered a probe into the cause of the accident.
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