A truck driver has been left fighting for his life after a serious crash on the N3 Durban-bound before the Peter Brown Avenue off-ramp at Town Hill in Pietermaritzburg on Sunday morning.
Emergency services rushed to the scene after reports that a truck had lost control, left the roadway and plunged down a steep embankment near the off-ramp.
According to information from Midlands EMS, rescue crews and paramedics faced difficult terrain while trying to reach the trapped driver. Specialised rescue medics had to carefully make their way down the embankment before assessing and stabilising the injured driver at the scene.
After an intense rescue operation, paramedics and rescue teams managed to extricate the driver and carry him back up to waiting emergency vehicles. He was transported to a nearby hospital in a critical condition for further medical treatment.
The exact circumstances surrounding the crash are still unclear at this stage and authorities are expected to investigate what caused the driver to lose control.
The latest crash comes less than two weeks after another Zambian-registered truck was involved in a runaway crash on the Mariannhill descent near Durban. In that incident, the truck reportedly lost control while travelling downhill, raising fresh concerns about the growing number of similar accidents involving trucks travelling from Zambia into South Africa.
SA Trucker recently highlighted the issue in an article examining the persistent crashes involving Zambian copper trucks on South African roads. Despite making up only a small percentage of the heavy vehicle fleet on local roads, hardly a week passes without another runaway truck incident involving a Zambian vehicle being reported.
The conversation around these crashes has become a hot topic within the trucking industry, with many questioning whether enough is being done to prepare drivers for the demanding roughly 2,600km journey from the Copperbelt in Zambia to South African ports and destinations.
Industry voices have pointed to possible factors such as driver fatigue, unfamiliarity with steep descents like Town Hill and Mariannhill, vehicle maintenance concerns and the pressures associated with long cross-border trips.
Many are now calling for stronger interventions, including specialised mountain descent training, stricter vehicle inspections and better driver preparation before undertaking long-haul trips into South Africa.
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