Police Forensics to investigate cableway accident
Police Forensics to investigate cableway accident
Released by Chief Directorate of Communication on 05 January
2004
The Department of Labour has enlisted the services of the South
African Police Service?s Forensic Team as part of the investigations
into the cause of last Friday's cableway accident near Hartbeespoort
Dam in the Northwest that left two people seriously injured.
The Forensic Team will evaluate the clamps and hooks belonging to
a cable car that was carrying the two injured when it snapped in midair
and plunged 18 meters to the ground.
The Team will also collect several other technical data with the
aim of establishing whether the incident was the result of a mechanical
failure.
The final report on the investigations will be handed to the
Director of Public Prosecution who will then decide whether to
prosecute.
The cableway is operated by Hartbeespoort Kabospoor Company to
ferry people to picnic spots across the Hartbeespoort Dam to a nearby
mountain top.
The Department's Health and Safety Inspectors have already issued
the company with a prohibition notice halting all operations pending
investigations.
The two injured were admitted to the Unitas Hospital in Pretoria
and are in a stable condition.
The Department Spokesperson Snuki Zikalala said Minister
Membathisi Mdladlana has requested that investigations be speeded up
and in the event of any gross negligence those responsible be brought
to book.
Minister Mdladlana said the ANC led government will at all times
ensure that the safety of workers and the general public are protected
and that employers who disregard the safety of the country's citizens
are dealt with severely.
ENDS.
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