Woman dies after being hit by motorbike

[caption id="attachment_96702" align="aligncenter" width="597"] FAMILY SORROW: Family friend Sylvia Langabi comforts Zoleka Jonas whose cousin, Nokuzola Klaas, was hit and killed by a motorcycle on Uitenhage Road yesterday. Picture: EUGENE COETZEE[/caption]

A HORRIFIC motorbike accident in Port Elizabeth yesterday has left a Missionvale woman dead and a Despatch man fighting for his life in an induced coma.

Nokuzola Klaas, 43, a pregnant mother of a five-year-old boy, died shortly after being knocked over by a motorcycle driven by Coenraad Kleinhans, a 38-year-old father of two daughters, at about 7.30am.

Klaas died near her home after being struck by the bike on the busy Uitenhage Road near Dora Nginza Hospital.

Kleinhans, who according to a family member suffered severe head injuries, was put into an induced coma at Netcare Greenacres Hospital.

Police, who have not yet determined the cause of the accident, have opened a culpable homicide docket for investigation.

Traffic warden Mncedisi Ntsangani, 50, was on point duty in the area at the time.

“I heard a loud bang and then a very high rev. When I looked I saw a motorcycle driving towards Port Elizabeth, that’s when I saw her body in the air before she fell on the grass,” Ntsangani said.

“I ran towards the woman, trying to protect her from other cars by diverting traffic into one lane.

“By the time I got back to her, it was too late.”

Klaas’s partner and father of her children, Patrick Mxokozeli, 40, said he was awoken by people who were shouting about an accident.

“I decided to go check what was happening. I was shocked when I saw my girlfriend’s body . . . everything went blank.”

Kleinhans’s sister-in-law, Willen Venter, said: “We are all in shock . . . we really don’t know much at this stage.” She confirmed Kleinhans was in an induced coma. -Yoliswa Sobuwa and Siyamtanda Capa