eThekwini fire and emergency services responded to a scene where a man was killed on Thursday after his vehicle ploughed through the wall of a fourth floor parking lot in a shopping mall in Overport, Durban.
The vehicle had come to rest on its roof on the road below with the man sustaining fatal injuries.
ALS Paramedics spokesperson, Garrith Jamieson said that just after noon on Thursday, they responded to a serious single vehicle crash with entrapments on Overport Drive.
“Paramedics arrived on scene to find carnage as they found that a single vehicle which was on the top floor of the shopping centre parking lot had somehow lost control and ploughed through the parking wall coming to rest on the road below, on its roof.”
“The driver, the only occupant of the vehicle, was found severely entrapped in the wreckage having sustained major injuries, and unfortunately there was nothing paramedics could do for the man and he was declared dead on the scene. The man is believed to be in his seventies,” added Jamieson.
Jamieson said that the eThekwini fire department, SAPS and metro police search and rescue unit had to use the Jaws of Life and other hydraulic equipment to cut the man free.
eThekwini fire station commander Felix Nzama said that they arrived on the scene outside the shopping mall in Overport Drive to find a vehicle resting on its roof.
“The vehicle had crashed through the fourth floor parking of the shopping mall to the road below. We worked to stabilise the scene. There was an elderly male trapped in the vehicle, however, he had sustained fatal injuries and was declared deceased on the scene.”
“We worked with the Jaws of Life to free the deceased man from the vehicle.”
Andreas Mathios from Marshall Security, who was also on the scene, said roads in the vicinity of where the incident took place were severely affected.
“Metro police and other first responders had cordoned off the scene to allow metro search and rescue and SAPS to conduct preliminary investigations into the cause of the incident.”
The Mercury