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Port Elizabeth – The departure of an SAA flight from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg was dramatically delayed when it emerged that a suspected hit-and-run offender was on board.
The man who caused the delay and who saw the hit-and-run accident was Captain Piet Meyer, an SAA pilot.
Meyer asked the pilot to delay SAA flight 402, which was set to leave at 06:00, so that he could go on board to locate the suspected hit-and-run offender. The man's name is known to Die Burger.
Only minutes before, Meyer, who was also under way to the airport, had seen how the man in his white Polo had hit Elizabeth "Lizzy" Hide while she was riding her bicycle from Summerstrand to Walmer with a friend, Brent Pheiffer.
The Polo was apparently driving on the wrong side of the road and headed straight for them in Brett Laroche Drive.
Sped off
After the Polo hit Hide, the driver apparently stopped for a while and then sped off.
Pheiffer said: "Lizzy and the Polo tried to swerve to avoid hitting each other, but it was too late. The back of the car hit her and she fell in the road." He yelled at the driver to stop. The man yelled back that he was late for his flight and sped off.
Passing motorists, including Meyer, offered their assistance.
Pheiffer jumped on his bike to look for the Polo driver. "At SAA flights I saw him and asked his name and number. He gave it to me and I went back to the accident scene."
"But I suspected the man's details were false. When the ambulance came, Meyer and I went back to the airport."
Found driver on plane
When they heard the man was already on the flight to Johannesburg, Meyer went straight to the plane.
"He found him and insisted that he gave his ID document for a copy to be made."
The plane then left, with the driver on board.
Hide said on Wednesday afternoon that her face was swollen and painful but that it could have been much worse.
Police are investigating the incident.
The man who caused the delay and who saw the hit-and-run accident was Captain Piet Meyer, an SAA pilot.
Meyer asked the pilot to delay SAA flight 402, which was set to leave at 06:00, so that he could go on board to locate the suspected hit-and-run offender. The man's name is known to Die Burger.
Only minutes before, Meyer, who was also under way to the airport, had seen how the man in his white Polo had hit Elizabeth "Lizzy" Hide while she was riding her bicycle from Summerstrand to Walmer with a friend, Brent Pheiffer.
The Polo was apparently driving on the wrong side of the road and headed straight for them in Brett Laroche Drive.
Sped off
After the Polo hit Hide, the driver apparently stopped for a while and then sped off.
Pheiffer said: "Lizzy and the Polo tried to swerve to avoid hitting each other, but it was too late. The back of the car hit her and she fell in the road." He yelled at the driver to stop. The man yelled back that he was late for his flight and sped off.
Passing motorists, including Meyer, offered their assistance.
Pheiffer jumped on his bike to look for the Polo driver. "At SAA flights I saw him and asked his name and number. He gave it to me and I went back to the accident scene."
"But I suspected the man's details were false. When the ambulance came, Meyer and I went back to the airport."
Found driver on plane
When they heard the man was already on the flight to Johannesburg, Meyer went straight to the plane.
"He found him and insisted that he gave his ID document for a copy to be made."
The plane then left, with the driver on board.
Hide said on Wednesday afternoon that her face was swollen and painful but that it could have been much worse.
Police are investigating the incident.
