A 42 year old woman is in a critical condition after she sustained multiple burn injuries.
Shortly before three o'clock paramedics from ER24 received numerous emergency calls for a vehicle that is engulfed in flames and a woman still inside of it.
When paramedics arrived a local shopping centre's parking lot, bystanders just managed to pull her from the burning vehicle. Emergency personnel found her a few meters away from the vehicle with severe burns. They quickly established that the scene was unsafe and moved the woman further away from the vehicle before she was loaded into the back of the ambulance.
Numerous paramedics assisted to stabilise the woman. She was later rushed off through to Leratong Hospital for further medical management.
People from the nearby community as well as people in the parking lot flocked to the scene when they noticed the vehicle burning. One bystander explained to paramedics that they noticed the vehicle burning while the woman was still driving towards the parking lot. Apparently a taxi driver tried to flag her down but was unable to do so. Moments later she pulled into the open parking lot.
The exact circumstances regarding this incident is not yet known. Paramedics on the scene stated that if it was not for the bystanders that pulled her from the vehicle, she would most probably have burnt to death.
The local fire department as well as police attended the incident and will conduct and investigation into the matter. A next of kind could not be reached on the scene.
Werner Vermaak
ER24