Truck explodes on N1 in Pretoria destroying crane and bridge

Police said one of the reasons for closing the highway was that one of the crane's support pillars had been destroyed sparking fears that it was unstable.

A woman whose car was flattened when the truck drove over it, sustained serious injuries, while three other motorists, whose cars were destroyed in the smash, walked away with slight injuries.

Information given to the Pretoria News last night indicated that the truck driver had jumped from his truck moments before the crash.

SHOOT: There needs to be more inspection of loads and whether vehicles are fit to carry them. Our potholed roads are a symptom of too heavy freights. One person commentated that they felt, during the heat of the explosion, that it was 'the end of the world'. Well, perhaps just the area around the Atterbury turn-off.

clipped from www.iol.co.za Traffic in Pretoria east was chaotic on Wednesday evening when a truck transporting chemicals and industrial cables careered out of control, crashed into a construction crane and four cars before exploding underneath the Atterbury Road Bridge killing a motorist. Panicked motorists abandoned their vehicles, hid behind their cars and fled for safety up embankments alongside the highway. The crash and subsequent explosion saw the highway shut down during peak time, and caused significant jams on adjacent roads. The accident, which was on the northbound side of the highway, is believed to have been caused by a mechanical fault on the flatbed horse-and-trailer truck which smashed into a cement truck before it went headlong into the crane and the four cars. The explosion, which led to the truck and sections of the bridge burning for nearly 15 minutes, could be heard nearly a kilometre away. It is believed the person killed in the smash was the truck driver's co-driver.