Four scholars, thought to be aged between twelve and fourteen-year-old, were critically injured when the light motor vehicle they were travelling in was struck by a taxi on Republic Road near the Angelfish Street junction in Ebony Park this morning.
The cause of the accident and series of events leading up to it remain unclear and will form the subject of a South African Police Force investigation.
All indications are that the light motor vehicle and the taxi had entered the junction simultaneously, with the latter slamming into the former and causing it to overturn. The force of the impact saw the four teens thrown from the vehicle as it overturned. They were found lying strewn about the mangled wreckage.
An unsuspecting man walking to work was struck by the car as it rolled.
A twelve-year-old boy had sustained significant head trauma and was fighting for his life. Netcare911 advanced life support paramedics immediately rushed to his aid. He was intubated and placed on a manual ventilator before he was airlifted by the Netcare1 Aeromedical Helicopter to the Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital for further critical care.
The other three critically injured teens were treated and stabilised at the scene before they were transported by ambulance to a state hospital in the vicinity for the lifesaving medical intervention they required.
The passerby struck by the out-of-control car sustained minor injuries. He too was tended to by medics at the roadside.
Traffic in the junction was obstructed while emergency service personnel cleared the scene.
