A trip to a waterfall on the way to a holiday destination turned into a painful nightmare for an elderly man from Vanderbijlpark when a giant rock fell on his foot and trapped him.
The freak accident happened on Thursday around 14:00 in Meiringspoort, a mountain pass on the N12 near De Rust, when a family was walking on a footpath to a waterfall in this area.
Daniël (Bokkie) Oosthuizen was on holiday with his wife, Wilsa (69), daughter Ilse du Plessis, her husband, Waldo, and their six-year-old daughter, Lillian, when they stopped to see the waterfall.
The footpath to the waterfall is located in a mountainous gorge and according to André Oosthuizen, Bokkie’s son, the rock just suddenly tumbled from top to bottom. It almost fell on his niece, but Wilsa was able to pull her granddaughter out of the way in time.
However, Bokkie could not give way quickly enough. He broke his ankle in two places and has since had to undergo two operations.
“My father’s foot was stuck under the rock for about 30 minutes. Eight men were needed to lift the rock from his foot. There is no mobile reception and my brother-in-law Waldo had to rush to De Rust to call for help,” André told RNews.
“He was taken by ambulance to the Mediclinic in Oudtshoorn where his foot was stabilised. He was then transferred to Life Bayview Hospital in Mossel Bay where he underwent a three-hour operation. The orthopedist had to rebuild the crushed bone in his ankle with plates and screws and he went to theater again on Sunday morning where they did further repair work.”
André says his father endures a lot of pain and that his injuries will take about six months to recover. However, it is not clear at this stage whether there is permanent damage to his ankle.
However, Bokkie is “positive” and should be discharged from the hospital after a week.
André says the family wants to warn other visitors to the waterfall to be extra vigilant and prepared when they walk there.
“Someone could have died.”
