11 September 2015
P. 3
Taxi blaze
R1-20/FREE
Protestors on Harry Gwala Street
at Bela - Bela TK Mashaba
This taxi caught fire and exploded at Bela-Bela on Tuesday, 8 September. Photo: TK Mashaba
A Bela-Bela businessman’s taxi burst into flames early in the evening of Tuesday, 8 September, near Sunvalley, at the Leseding Section of Bela-Bela. The taxi’s passengers and driver managed to escape unharmed, but the taxi was burnt to ashes after apparently overheating. According to witnesses, the taxi suddenly started smoking. It came to a halt and the screaming passengers evacuated as quickly as they could. All the passengers and the driver managed to escape before the vehicle exploded, according to witnesses on the scene. Witnesses say that the same taxi had been seen with its engine on fire at the taxi rank on Friday, 4 September. On that occasion other taxi drivers helped to quench the problem. The vehicle’s owner, Elias Malungane, who arrived at the scene shortly after the incident, said that he could not speak to the media. The BEAT contacted Israel Molusi, the spokesperson for the Warmbaths Taxi Association (WATA), who said that he was still collecting information as he had been out of town at the time of the incident. “I will be getting full details soon, but what I heard so far was that the fire was caused by a mechanical fault,” he said. “We will have a meeting soon to see what we can do to contact the passengers of the taxi to see if we can help them in any way.” He said that the organisation would investigated if the passengers needed counselling.