HLUTI ACCIDENT VICTIMS: COUPLE WAS TO MARRY IN DECEMBER

HLUTI – A heartbreaking moment struck when a young couple was killed in a horrific crash, just two months away from their traditional wedding.

Sizwe Nxumalo, a truck driver based in South Africa, had informed his parents that he was planning to make the union with his sweetheart official when he returned home for the forthcoming December holidays.

However, the lovebirds were not so lucky to live long until then.
 Tragedy struck on Sunday afternoon while the couple was travelling together with the man’s sister, Sebe, in their elder brother’s grey Honda Fit. Also driving along with them was Nxumalo’s childhood friend Zama Hlophe, who also happened to be a neighbour.

Negotiate

The family members were driving towards Lavumisa border when the driver failed to negotiate a sharp bend around KaMziki area, past Hluti, causing him to lose control of the vehicle before it struck a concrete wall, serving as a waiting room on the roadside, killing all of them instantly.

Horrified onlookers claimed the vehicle split into half as it tore through the concrete barrier, in a dramatic crash that saw the front half of the Honda Fit becoming airborne before eventually coming to rest about 100 metres away. This was after ejecting both males who were occupying the front seat.
The close friends were dropped on the ground about 30 metres apart, while the two women remained trapped in the other wreckage that was left hanging onto the concrete wall.

Firefighters had to cut the wreckage in order to retrieve the bodies of the women. All the occupants were declared dead on the scene.
The quartet began the last lap of their lives when the South Africa-based truck driver took his elder brother’s vehicle, a grey Honda Fit, with the intention to drive to the Lavumisa Border Gate to get his travel document stamped, in order to extend his stay in the country.

They had already driven past Hluti town when the accident occurred just after 4pm. It was a friend to the owner of the vehicle who became suspicious when driving past the scene moments after the crash.

He called to ask him about his vehicle’s whereabouts, and when he responded to say that his younger brother had driven the car towards the Lavumisa direction, he dropped the bombshell. The elder brother began to worry when the friend, who is a teacher based around Hluti, told him that a bad accident had occurred in the area and the car resembled his.

He made frantic calls which later confirmed the car which was involved in the horrific crash as his.
Head of the family Bhekithemba Nxumalo said he didn’t take it all well when he was informed that two of his children died at the same time.

“It is quite a sad thing to happen to the family. In fact, I took all the accident victims as my own children, because the other boy was my son’s long time friend. All the four had created a bond such that they were inseparable whenever the son who is based in South Africa was around.

“If things were to happen my way, they would all be buried at the same place,” lamented the elderly man.
He then revealed that his son had planned to pay dowry and further traditionally wed his girlfriend in December. He said the family had fully supported his plan.

Haunt

“So, what happened yesterday (on Sunday) will haunt me for the rest of my life. When I saw the wreckage I asked myself what really happened, it was like the car was simply torn apart and then blown by the wind, much the same way one does to a paper,” wondered the grieving father.

The same atmosphere of grief prevailed at the neighbouring Hlophe family, where the head of the family spoke of their deep sadness over the incident which took the lives of the two well known friends away.

“They (the friends) have always been happy together and it is just ironic that they would also die the same way at the same time. We were all shattered when we received the news about the crash,” said Hlophe senior during an interview with this publication yesterday. Hlophe revealed that the accident came as a shock to the entire community of Galile, outside Mhlosheni, where the two homesteads are located.

The cause of the accident remains unknown and under investigation by Hluti traffic officers who have already interviewed the owner of the vehicle.

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