Hijacking horror

A family of six was hijacked at gunpoint on the N2 Zinkwazi Bridge on the evening of Tuesday January 17.

One of the victims, Ingrid Olivier from the Ballito area said, “We want to warn people to be more wary, we were incredibly trusting and made ourselves very vulnerable.”

After a day of shopping in Durban, Olivier was driving her sister, Mtunzini’s Krista Zwarts, her two toddlers and child minder to the Zinkwazi bridge, where the sisters’ father was meeting them to take the Mtunzini family and shopping home.

Olivier said that as they were approaching the bridge, her sister had said that she had a funny feeling, but told herself to stop being paranoid.

“If only we had listened to her feelings,” said Olivier.

While they were transferring groceries from one car to another, three men with guns appeared and held them at gunpoint. They were all told to lie down in the car. A two-year-old toddler was asleep in her seat, but the three year old boy was already in the father’s car.

“We all begged the men to let us put the boy in our car. One of the men said he didn’t care, but the other fetched the boy and lay him down on the seat of my car.”

They were all under the impression that the men were going to drive off in the, now empty, father’s car

“Suddenly, the three hijackers jumped into my car, demanded the keys and sped onto the N2, and then took the Nyoni off ramp.”

During the frantic drive, the family asked the men not to harm them and then Zwarts decided to offer them something that they didn’t already have. She offered to draw cash for them at an ATM.

The car and terrified family was then driven into thick bush.

“One man loaded bullets into his gun and it felt like one of those movie scenes where the killers find a secluded spot where they think the bodies won’t be found. I was sure that this was the end,” said Olivier.

For an hour they were in the car with two of the hijackers. They started engaging with them, telling them about their lives and asking about theirs.

“We wanted to keep reminding them that we were also people, human beings,” said Olivier.

The men then left, saying that they were going to check on the other hijacker, and ordered the hostages to stay in the car.

Five minutes later the group made a run for it to the highway, where motorists ignored them until a man by the name of Goodman stopped to help.

He let them use his phone and 15 minutes later, help was at hand.

“We are very, very grateful to be alive. It all seemed surreal and you keep thinking that it cannot really be happening. Keeping panic and hysteria at bay probably contributed to our survival. We kept our heads and kept our lives,” said Olivier.