A 9-year-old boy is fighting for his life after a taxi ploughed into him and his two friends while they were playing outside.
|||Durban - A 9-year-old boy is fighting for his life in hospital after a taxi ploughed into him and his two friends while they were playing with a go-kart outside his house in Phoenix.
The two friends were killed and the driver of the taxi then allegedly abandoned the vehicle - with his passengers still inside. The identities of the boys were not available.
A community member said the driver was known to fall asleep while driving.
Mluleki Shangase, who is the only one to survive the accident, was playing on the pavement outside his home when the taxi hit them on Wednesday evening.
According to his family it was the first time Mluleki had played outside their Palm View Drive, Terrance Park, home.
“He always played inside because he did not like going outside to the other children. He is shy so his friends always come to our house,” said Mluleki’s aunt, Patronella Sibiya.
“It was around 6pm and there were lots of children on the street and he was playing on the pavement with a kart that he made with his friends.
“We were all in the house and we just heard screaming and ran out to see what had happened. It was a sight we could not believe,” Sibiya said.
According to the family the other two boys, aged 11 and 16, were unconscious and Mluleki was crying because of the pain he was in.
Mluleki’s mother, Thobile Mbonambi, who was upset after seeing her son in hospital yesterday, said all she could do was pray for her child.
“He is my only child, I can’t lose him,” she said as tears filled her eyes.
The boy’s father, Khayelihle Shangase, said he was still shocked.
Police spokesman Colonel Jay Naicker said a case of culpable homicide was being investigated by the Phoenix SAPS.
Daily News