Mlungiseleli Ciko, Fire Fighter and Shift Commander, Fire and Emergency Services, Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, treated casualties of a 16-seater taxi accident.
Mlungiseleli Ciko
Horror Crash
27 May 2009. Nelson Mandela Bay EMS Shift Commander Mlungiseleli Ciko was off-duty and on his way back to Port Elizabeth from East London when he made a gruesome discovery.
About 5km outside Peddie, he came across a packed 16-seater taxi that had overturned on the N2, scattering bodies all over the road. Mlungiseleli immediately phoned for medical assistance, but with no time to lose he scoured the accident scene in the dark to see how he could assist the injured.
There were badly injured passengers all around him. Some were walking around in a confused daze and one man was still trapped in the wreckage, crying out for help.
Mlungiseleli also noticed two young boys close by. One was lying in a ditch with a ruptured skull; the other boy was already covered with a blanket. He also noticed a body trapped underneath the taxi, and a seemingly lifeless man lying on the road surface, bleeding through his nose and mouth.
Close by, a young boy of about six was crying uncontrollably. He went to him and immediately saw that the child was bleeding through the mouth and had a swollen forehead. Mlungiseleli calmed the child and wiped the blood from his mouth. He put blankets and jackets on top of him to conserve his body temperature. He appeared to be stable and Mlungiseleli moved on to other casualties.
He noticed a young woman lying face down. Her airway was blocked and she was bleeding badly. He managed to open her airway and put her in the recovery position while waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
In the meantime, there was a man crying for help from inside the taxi. He was trapped in the front passenger side. Mlungiseleli approached with caution, knowing that the vehicle was not properly stabilized. He slid into the vehicle and tried to recline the seat so that the man could feel some relief, all the while assuring him that the medical team was on their way. Mlungiseleli disconnected the battery, fearing the vehicle might burst into flames with the man still trapped inside.
As he monitored the injured, the ambulance, metro and police services arrived. Mlungiseleli assisted them and they worked as a team. He attended to a pregnant woman with severe facial injuries. With the assistance of the medical crew, the heavily injured were all stabilized and transported to hospital.
But one man was still trapped inside the wreckage. The crew had no “jaws of life” available and Mlungiseleli had to improvise. He borrowed a spare wheel and a jack from a nearby car. Since the taxi wreck was lying upside down and had no windscreen left, Mlungiseleli realised it was possible to create enough space between the ground and the crushed front part of the vehicle to free the trapped passenger through the windscreen area. With the help of a bystander, they jacked the vehicle, sliding the spare wheel underneath to prop it up, until there was enough space to free the patient from the taxi.
For taking action to save lives in a very difficult situation, Mlungiseleli Ciko is a deserving winner of the Centrum® Guardian Project.
