The unfortunate incident happened as temporary bridge collapsed over the M1 in Sandton, where scaffolding caved in passing cars, killing three people and injuring 22, according to latest reports.
Last night Johannesburg Mayor Parks Tau, transport MEC Ismael Vadi and other leaders met with the Murry and Roberts Construction senior personnel to find out the cause.
This morning, the Mayor confirmed the death of the third person.
“We will go to the hospital and interact with the doctors but that’s the information we received this morning,” he said.
He says several parallel investigations have been launched.
“We’ve got our own engineers whom we appointed last night to come to the site and do an independent investigation.”
Tau says the city is working closely with Murray and Roberts.
“I had a meeting with the CEO of Murray and Roberts at 5.30am on the site. They also have their own investigation underway and they have indicated that they will be able to give us a report. Right now their focus is to appoint their own investigators and to be able to assist with the clearance of the highway.”
M&R CEO Henry Laas has vowed to do everything possible to prevent this from happening again.
“The erection took place under the supervision of qualified engineers, so we really don’t understand what led to this.”
Laas says he could not get any rest last night following the accident and has sent his condolences to the affected families.
Three quarters of the collapsed scaffolding is still obstructing both sides of the highway.
A close family member’s who were driving from Pretoria to Johannesburg said after passing the bridge, suddenly they heard the huge bang.
“It was a scary moment that we survived by a second,” the couple said in shock.
Onlookers and other motorists were devastated by the incident.
