Five people standing off at an accident scene, made up of three tow truck drivers and two members from CERT, a community-based organisation operating on the North Coast of KwaZulu-Natal, were injured in a secondary collision, medical emergency teams confirmed.
CERT is short for Community Emergency Response Team.
The five people all sustained injuries, Samantha Meyrick from IPSS Medical Rescue confirmed.
Two were from CERT, two from Big Show Towing, and one from F1 Towing.
The accident took place on the Watson Highway near Tongaat Toll.
The initial accident had no injuries, and the five people were busy clearing the scene when they were hit by another vehicle, and they all sustained broken bones, Meyrick explained.
"On the arrival of paramedics, it was discovered that a secondary accident had occurred while tow truckers and other members were attempting to clear the scene of an earlier accident.
“Members from Big Show Towing, F1 Towing, and CERT all sustained injuries ranging from serious to critical and were stabilised on scene by Netcare911 and IPSS Medical Rescue Advanced Life Support paramedics before being transported to various facilities for further care,” IPSS Medical Rescue said.
Meyrick said the team that was injured is always on the ground helping out the community and wished them a speedy recovery.
It was not the first time something of this nature had happened though, as in October, a tow truck driver from SLS Towning lost his life after he was involved in a similar incident.
On October 21, a Saturday evening, IPSS responded to a single vehicle accident on the N2 southbound near Ballito.
On arrival, teams found that another accident had taken place between a responding tow truck and another vehicle.
“One patient from the initial accident sustained critical injuries. While the tow truck owner was trying to assist the critically injured patient, he was struck by the second vehicle, sustained fatal injuries, and was declared deceased on scene,” IPSS Medical Rescue said.
The driver of the second vehicle, which fatally wounded the tow truck driver, fled the scene.
IOL