Police in Ekurhuleni have launched a manhunt for a taxi driver who abandoned his Toyota Quantum and fled on foot after a head-on collision with a Mercedes Benz sedan in Tembisa.
The crash happened on Wednesday, and the occupants of the Mercedes Benz were rushed to hospital with serious injuries.
Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Kelebogile Thepa said when police officers arrived at the scene, the taxi driver had already bolted.
“On Wednesday, October 18, at 07.20am, the EMPD public order policing unit officers attended a crash involving two motor vehicles and the driver of one of the vehicle was nowhere to be found,” Thepa said.
“While monitoring the two-way radio, the officers heard about a motor vehicle collision, on the Reverend RTJ Namane Road and since they were nearby, they responded. On arrival, officers came across a dented white Toyota Quantum minibus taxi, which collided head-on, with a white Mercedes Benz sedan.”
Thepa said the taxi driver was alone in his vehicle when the crash happened.
“It was established that, immediately after the crash, the taxi driver who was alone in the minibus when the crash occurred, ran away after the collision,” she said.
“The emergency services were summoned to the scene where two male patients from the Mercedes Benz, who are 23 and 55-years of age, were taken to the Tembisa Hospital for medical treatment.”
She said the two had sustained “serious injuries”.
“A case of failing to wait for officials to arrive at an accident scene, coupled with reckless and negligent driving were registered at the Rabasotho police station. The minibus taxi, is impounded at the EMPD Kempton Park yard for safekeeping and the hunt is on for the taxi driver who disappeared into thin air,” said Thepa.
IOL