Fellow truckers could not locate him for the whole day, his cellphone was unreachable and noone knew where he was.
“It’s unlike him that he would just disappear without letting someone know where he was, hence we became more worried as the day progressed,” said one of his workmates.
This past weekend, Albert Madenyika was found dead in his truck at the company premises in Boksburg.
When he didn’t wake up to greet others as he usually did, colleagues assumed he was tired and needed to rest since he had arrived the previous night.
As the day progressed and still without any sign of Albert his workmates thought he had gone out on quick errands but would be back.
His truck was locked.
When his workmates eventually peeped into the truck, they saw his cellphone was in there and the truck keys still in the ignition.
“I became very worried at that stage when we discovered the doors were locked but he was not responding,” said one truck driver.
They obtained spare keys and opened the door only to discover the lifeless body of their colleague lying on the bed.
His death has left friends, family and workmates in shock as he never complained of any ailments.
SA Trucker got hold of the deceased’s brother Godfrey Madenyika who revealed that post mortem results concluded that his younger brother died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
“We suspect that his cooking gas may have been leaking causing the terrible accident,” said Godfrey.
Instances of leaking of gas have caused terrible accidents before. Another truck driver was lucky to get away with only burn wounds after the gas bottle burst while he was asleep at Beitbridge border post.
In another incident, also at Beitbridge, a truck cab was destroyed when a gas bottle exploded from inside.
Albert was only 37 at the time of his death on 6 December 2020.
He is survived by his four year old daughter.
More saddening is that his wife and mother to his daughter died two years ago leaving their daughter who was only two at the time.
“We are grateful for the company as it has provided all the support to enable us to repatriate the remains of my brother to Zimbabwe,” said Godfrey speaking for the family.
He said that arrangements were at an advanced stage to take his brother’s remains back home to Harare in Zimbabwe.
SA Trucker requested a comment from his employer SB Transport but at the time of publishing, they had not responded.
Rest In Power Albert
