An 18-month-old boy was killed when he was flung from the wreckage of a car which rolled on the N2 near Tinley Manor‚ north of Durban‚ on Saturday.

The child‚ who was sitting on his mother’s lap‚ had been thrown from the car before the wreckage landed on top of him.

IPSS Medical Rescue spokesperson Paul Herbst voiced his frustration at what he called the “unnecessary loss of life”.

“We arrived at the scene to find that a single car had overturned and that an 18-month-old baby had been flung from the wreckage as it rolled‚” he said.

He decried the fact that the baby had not been secured in a car seat.

“The child was sitting on the front passenger seat on the mother’s lap when the father lost control of the car causing it roll repeatedly‚” Herbst added.

He said that when medics arrived they had to cut the windscreen away from above the child.

“The baby ended up pinned beneath the vehicle. Paramedics and fire-fighters had to cut the windscreen away from the child before they could start working to save her life. Sadly they were unsuccessful.”