It was Gert Zeelie’s first day on the job when his truck stalled and was hit by a train, killing 20 farmworkers.
|||Cape Town - It was Gert Zeelie’s first day on the job when the truck he was driving stalled on a railway crossing and was hit by a train, killing 20 farmworkers.
This was the testimony of crash survivor Morne Kershoff in the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday.
Two fellow survivors – Primilda Jacobs, 25, and Caroline Hendricks, 46 – are suing for damages from Metrorail and the SA Rail Commuter Corporation, since renamed the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa).
Their lawsuit will be a test case for about 18 other survivors and relatives of survivors who hope to claim.
The crash was on the morning of November 13, 2006, as the farmworkers were being transported to work in the Faure area.
Kershoff testified under cross-examination that it had been the first time truck driver Zeelie had been driving that particular truck. “He only started the job that day,” he said. “I was handing my job over to him.”
Kershoff had been sitting in the cab of the truck next to Zeelie. As they approached the crossing, he had told Zeelie to “be careful” because there was a railway crossing, and had looked to see whether Zeelie was checking for trains.
Kershoff had then looked down to get something out of his bag.
“I felt the truck moving and then I felt the truck die. When I looked up at (Zeelie) to ask why the truck had died, I saw the train. I immediately jumped out,” he testified.
Kershoff’s father, Martin, the workers’ former labour broker, was initially one of the defendants, but the plaintiffs’ lawyers have withdrawn their case against him.
Mechanical and transportation engineer Dan van Onselen, another witness for Jacobs and Hendricks, testified that the crash could have been avoided had the train driver been going at the 30km/h speed limit.
Van Onselen said that if the train had been going this speed and the right brakes had been applied, the train would’ve stopped in 43.86m, which would’ve taken 5.2 seconds.
“The train would have stopped before it got to the crossing,” he testified.
While the train had been going “much faster” than 30km/h, he could not say what speed it had been going.
Also, while there had been a stop sign at the level crossing a the time, there should also have been a white line at the stop point, said Van Onselen.
The hearing is expected to continue on Wednesday, dealing only with the merits of the case, with amounts to be determined later.
leila.samodien@inl.co.za
Cape Times