Stray animals on the region’s roads were once again the cause of a gruesome accident that left five people dead early on Monday morning.

The accident happened on the N1 south, about 10km outside of Makhado (Louis Trichardt). A truck that was travelling north collided head-on with a sedan, after the truck driver swerved to avoid a herd of stray cattle in the road.

The truck literally drove over the sedan. The driver and front passenger in the sedan were decapitated. Two of the three passengers in the rear of the vehicle were crushed, while the third was flung from the wreckage. All five died on impact.

After the initial impact, the out-of-control truck ploughed through a fence and overturned. Miraculously, the truck driver and his passenger managed to escape with minor injuries.

The accident caused the N1 to be closed for almost an hour as clean-up operations ensued, with traffic backing up for several kilometres. One of the cattle also had to be put down as a result of injuries sustained in the accident. 

Following the horror crash, Makhado police spokesperson Capt Maano Sadike said that the cattle had no ear tags or branding marks, which made it difficult for them to determine who the owner of the cattle was. Rumour has it, however, that the cattle belong to a police officer stationed at the Tshilwavhusiku police station, but this could not be confirmed at the time of going to press.

Monday’s crash once again highlighted the problem of stray animals on the region’s roads. In one of the worst accidents on the region’s roads, 17 people died in February 2007, after two buses on the Tshikowi/Rabali road in the Nzhelele area collided head-on. This came after one of the buses swerved to avoid a stray donkey.

This life-threatening situation incited the provincial leader of the Democratic Alliance, Mr Jacques Smalle, who was on his way to Cape Town, to visit the accident scene. He expressed his sympathy with the family and promised to address the issue of stray animals on national roads.

The newspaper was able to determine that, should the police succeed in identifying the owner of the cattle, he or she will be facing charges of culpable homicide.

At the time of going to press, only four of the five victims had been identified. Police withheld their details until all the next of kin could be notified.