THULAMAHASHE – Mrs Jelly Refilwe (47) of Thulamahashe Township is now a stranded pedestrian. This follows an incident that took place last Friday afternoon, when she was robbed her Toyota Corolla at gunpoint.

The incident took place at the Thulamahashe Social Welfare office premises at about 13:30.

According to the spokesperson of the police in the Lowveld Insp. Hasani Mabaso Refilwe was in the company of her friend when the incident took place. The two were walking to the parking area where Refilwe's car was parked when the incident occurred.

When they arrived at the car two armed men approached them. The men demanded the car keys and drove away with the vehicle. They picked up another man not far from the scene. The matter was reported to the police soon thereafter. The police responded by manning a roadblock along the Arconhoek road.

Realising that there was a roadblock on the way, the robbers made a U-turn and took the direction of Thulamahashe via Mbumbule area. According to reports they were driving at high speed. Along the way the stolen vehicle collided head-on with another vehicle, a Toyota bakkie.

According to the police statement there were three occupants in the bakkie. The three occupants of the bakkie were taken to the nearby hospital with serious injuries. Two of the occupants in the stolen vehicle died at the spot.

The third one was taken to hospital where he was still under police guard at the time of going to the press. The identities of the deceased's were still not known at the time of going to the press. Although investigations were still continuing, the police were adamant that the trio are members of the car hijacking syndicate that has made several armed robberies in the area during the past months.