A pair of good Samaritans from the northern parts of KwaZulu-Natal were praised by South Africans online, for stopping at an accident scene on the N2 last Thursday to assist injured school children.
According to IPSS Medical Rescue, two vehicles collided on the N2 Northbound near Tinley Manor.
Upon arrival, emergency responders found a minibus taxi had been rear-ended and rolled over multiple times, leaving several children injured.
“Four patients were transported to various facilities under the care of IPSS Medical advanced life support, and two under the care of IPSS Medical medics. A seventh patient was transported by another service, and the remaining nine patients were taken privately,” IPSS said.
“A big shout out goes to two wonderful women, Chantel and Liezl, who stopped shortly after the accident, calming and comforting the children until emergency services and parents arrived on scene,” it said.
IOL managed to track down Leizel Benade, who is an educator at Eden Village Preparatory School in Ballito and Chantel Murphy, who runs a renovation and maintenance business with her husband John.
Both Murphy, 36, and Benade, 45, live in the Blythedale area, along the Dolphin Coast.
On the day of the accident, Murphy was returning from the Durban CBD with her husband, on the N2 northbound. Just as they approached the Tinley Manor area, Murphy witnessed the minibus taxi roll over.
“As we rounded the corner the taxi was just finishing its final roll and had just come to rest on its roof in the fast lane. There was vehicle debris, sand, school bags and lunch boxes strewn all over the road,” Murphy told IOL.
Benade decided to leave school a bit earlier on the day of the accident and travels via the N2 daily.
“When I approached the scene, I saw a taxi on its roof in the north-bound fast lane. There was quite a lot of debris on the road. I noticed that it was school bags, lunch boxes and cooler boxes and realised that it was school children. Most of the children had already been evacuated from the taxi and were on the side of the road,” Benade told IOL.
Murphy said her husband barely stopped the car, and her door was already opened, eagerly trying to get to the scene.
“When the taxi finally came to a stop and I saw little arms and little legs reaching through the smashed windows, trying to get out, my instinct to help just kicked in and took over me,” Murphy said.
Both women are mothers and said their instincts are what drove them to stop at the Tinley Manor crash.
Despite not being in the medical emergency industry, Murphy knew how to perform triage, which is a method of assessing injuries and coding them according to severity.
Before the paramedics arrived on scene, the seriously injured were grouped and ready to be treated.
But besides the keen instincts and medical savvy in the face of tragedy, the kindest thing Leizel Benade and Chantel Murphy did, arguably, was hug injured, bloody and strange children, some of whom were crying hysterically from pain or shock, to assure them everything was going to be okay.
“Mostly, I did a lot of hugging, calming and just holding on - assuring them they were safe and that we would not leave until their parents arrived. We suggested that the parents take the R102 as the N2 was severely congested. When they arrived, they stopped their cars on the southbound side and crossed the road from that side to where we were,” Benade said.
Murphy did the same, saying: “Most of the kids were screaming hysterically and some started to walk into the flow of traffic. I gently held their arms and guided them to sit further up along the barrier. Some were crying from pain, others were screaming in absolute shock and fear, calling for their mummies and daddies.
“As I got to the taxi, every child I came across I held them, I hugged every one that I could individually.”
Among the injured children was a chatty little girl who behaved courageously, Murphy explained.
“She told me very proudly how she was going to tell her parents how brave she was - and she only cried a little bit.”
IOL