Deskjocky
25th Aug 2006, 13:08
As we were speaking about ACSA in the low cost thread I came across this on IOL:
Passenger knocked out cold by airport vehicle
August 24 2006 at 05:01AM
By Hannah Roberts
A senior British Council director has been admitted to hospital after being knocked out cold by a baggage-vehicle at Cape Town International Airport.
Rohini Naidoo was knocked down by a large white bakkie as she stepped out of the gate to board her plane home to Durban on Friday night.
The unconscious Naidoo, who was suffering from serious head injuries, was then forced to wait for 45 minutes for an ambulance as she lay on the tarmac in the pouring rain.
Colleague Lion Pasha said that Naidoo had fallen on her head.
"As I left the gate I couldn't see a bus," Naidoo said.
"I pulled my scarf over my head to shelter from the rain and the next thing I knew I was hit by something".
Naidoo's injuries included a fracture to the skull, a bruised brain and a perforated eardrum.
Naidoo says she has been told that she has to stay in bed for six weeks and take medication for the next six months if she is to make a full recovery.
Even with these precautions epilepsy, long-term dizziness and seizures are real possibilities, she said.
For now the feisty executive is just grateful to be alive, but she is furious at the way her accident was handled.
"When I came round in hospital I was completely drenched as I had been lying in the rain for all that time", she said.
"No one explained to me why they didn't move me faster, nor why the vehicle couldn't stop".
Nor were there staff guiding passengers to the bus or the plane, she said.
The matter was still under investigation, said Moekie Ungerer of the Commuter Handling Service and Deidre Hendricks of Acsa.
"Acsa regrets the injury and inconvenience caused to Mrs Naidoo and her family and wishes her a speedy recovery," said Hendricks.
But the Naidoo family want to know why there are no ambulances at the airport and what would happen in the face of a large-scale accident.
Passenger knocked out cold by airport vehicle
August 24 2006 at 05:01AM
By Hannah Roberts
A senior British Council director has been admitted to hospital after being knocked out cold by a baggage-vehicle at Cape Town International Airport.
Rohini Naidoo was knocked down by a large white bakkie as she stepped out of the gate to board her plane home to Durban on Friday night.
The unconscious Naidoo, who was suffering from serious head injuries, was then forced to wait for 45 minutes for an ambulance as she lay on the tarmac in the pouring rain.
Colleague Lion Pasha said that Naidoo had fallen on her head.
"As I left the gate I couldn't see a bus," Naidoo said.
"I pulled my scarf over my head to shelter from the rain and the next thing I knew I was hit by something".
Naidoo's injuries included a fracture to the skull, a bruised brain and a perforated eardrum.
Naidoo says she has been told that she has to stay in bed for six weeks and take medication for the next six months if she is to make a full recovery.
Even with these precautions epilepsy, long-term dizziness and seizures are real possibilities, she said.
For now the feisty executive is just grateful to be alive, but she is furious at the way her accident was handled.
"When I came round in hospital I was completely drenched as I had been lying in the rain for all that time", she said.
"No one explained to me why they didn't move me faster, nor why the vehicle couldn't stop".
Nor were there staff guiding passengers to the bus or the plane, she said.
The matter was still under investigation, said Moekie Ungerer of the Commuter Handling Service and Deidre Hendricks of Acsa.
"Acsa regrets the injury and inconvenience caused to Mrs Naidoo and her family and wishes her a speedy recovery," said Hendricks.
But the Naidoo family want to know why there are no ambulances at the airport and what would happen in the face of a large-scale accident.