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PARAMEDIC KILLED ON SPOT

By NOKUPHILA HAJI | 2024-04-16

An unnamed paramedic has been killed in a tragic car accident that happened in Mpumalanga, South Africa, over the weekend.

The female paramedic is known to this newspaper, but her name is being withheld as her family was still to be informed of her death yesterday afternoon.

She was one of two members of the paramedics in the car, with the other one said to have been seriously injured and currently hospitalised.

According to a source close to the matter, the two are paramedics based at Siteki and were travelling in a green Mazda Demio with Eswatini registered number plates when they were involved in the accident.

The car collided with another, claiming the life of the driver.
The trio is said to have been involved in an accident while driving along the Tjakastaad-Nhlazatje public road towards Nelspruit.

The two drivers are said to have died on the spot and the survivor was injured and currently admitted at Embhuleni Provisional Hospital in South Africa.

The source further informed this publication that the relatives of the survivor were already in South Africa to assess the situation because the survivor had woken up and wanted to be transferred to hospitals in the country.

“They are still waiting for the relatives of the deceased so that they can fill in all the necessary paperwork,” he said.

Emergency Preparedness and Response National Committee Executive Secretary Xolani Ginindza said he had heard a hint about a certain death from his colleagues but did not think it involved one of their own.

He said this was because he was not given names and the profession of the people
He added that his colleagues were behaving in a strange way the whole of yesterday, which raised eyebrows to the management on what might have happened.

He confirmed that the two are employees under the EPR unit and are based at Siteki.
He said the EPR executive committee has not yet received any report on the death of one of the paramedics and they did not have any details on the matter as yet.

“We are still waiting for formal communication from management and the families. We cannot give any comment for now because nothing was communicated to us,” he said.

The source said the relatives of the duo were identified after the Royal Eswatini Police Service issued an urgent public notice on Saturday appealing for the public’s assistance in finding the families of the driver of the vehicle that they were driving in.

The police in their notice said the vehicle was being driven by a lady who had of two occupants and was spotted along the Tjakastaad-Nhlazatje road en-route to Nelspruit.

The REPS removed the post yesterday and said they had located the families of the victims.
Deputy Police Information and Communications Officer Assistant Superintendent Nosipho Mnguni said the relatives of the victims were on their way to South Africa after they were informed on what had happened.

Information
“We do not have more information on the accident because it did not happen in our jurisdiction.

The people who can confirm everything are the South African Police Service. “We were only assisting because the car had local number plates but more information can be found from the SAPS,” she said.

Mpumalanga Spokesperson for the Department of Community Safety Security and Liaison Mmusi Moeti confirmed the accident.

He said the swipe car crash happened on R541 road and it claimed one life at the scene. He also confirmed that two more people sustained injuries.
“The collision was between the LDV and a sedan. One of the vehicles was registered in Eswatini,” he said.

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