Cape Town - The families whose children died when the bakkie in which they were travelling rolled in AZ Berman Drive in Mitchells Plain had the grim task of identifying their bodies at the Salt River Mortuary on Wednesday.
The parents received counselling right before entering the forensic pathology lab. Five children were killed instantly, and one, a 15-year-old, is still fighting for his life in Groote Schuur Hospital.
MEC for Health and Wellness Nomafrench Mbombo came to support the family members. The youngest of the five deceased was only 5 years old, a pre-schooler, and the eldest, the survivor, was in a critical condition after undergoing surgery on Tuesday.
“Preparing for this moment, parents had to go for counselling at Mitchells Plain first, but going forward someone has been provided to whom they’ll have to go for counselling throughout.
“According to the detectives, there’s more investigating to be done, and as the Health Department we are still busy with autopsy results, which will be done today or in the early morning of Thursday, so that if there is a need for burial within the week, the bodies can be released,” said Mbombo.
When asked to clarify the gender of the deceased, Mbombo said that to the department, all the children were patients, therefore they were all being treated as such.
Dr Doug Newman from the Health Department said: “We have the bodies, all five of them straight from the accident scene. Today’s identification process will be the first time that the parents are seeing their loved ones since they left home Wednesday, and because this is an investigation, the bodies are not changed, so they will be viewing them as they were coming straight from the scene.”
Willing to assist with one burial, the founder and owner of Davids Funeral Services, Endrico Davids, had since the accident asked for any of the families to come forward if they were experiencing difficulties.
According to Davids, four families came forward. Three other funeral parlours have since also joined in to help.
For those burying their loved ones in Cape Town, the whole process will be paid for, leaving those who will be travelling to other provinces paying only for their transportation.