Twitter has saved the day for three Richards Bay women who'd got stuck in heavy snow on a remote road several kilometres from Bergville.
The women - aged 23 to 31 - had set off from Richards Bay at 4am yesterday, heading for Boksburg for the long weekend.
Tamy Daniel, Nosky van der Westhuizen and Shannon Botha were caught up in the road closures at Nottingham Road.
The women waited until the roads were reopened, then continued their journey.
The GPS in their Ford Fiesta led them off the main roads, and they found themselves on rural roads.
At first conditions were perfect, the suddenly the snow hit them. Before they knew it they were surrounded by half a metre of snow on either side of their car. It was scraping the undercarriage.
There was no room turn back.
They raised the alarm via Twitter and the rescue wheels were set in motion.
Johann von Bargen was one of those who responded.
Local rescuers were alerted. JVB talked to the girls, trying to pinpoint their location. He also advised them to flash the car's headlights every few seconds so that the rescuers could find them in the dark.
Volunteer rescuers, only known as Phillip and Wayne, got to them by about 8.30pm and towed them out.
Tamy tweeted throughout the ordeal. The rescuers took them through to Montrose, checked out their car and they continued on their way, arriving in Boksburg 23 hours after setting off at 3am.
Daniel says the N3 was trecherous and they drove at 80km/hr with their hazard lights on.
She's expressed huge gratitude towards everyone who played a part in the rescue, including ECR's Traffic Guy.
Meanwhile, rescuers have had their hands full these past few days, trying to dig out dozens of vehicles from the heavy snow.
By yesterday afternoon, some 150 people had been rescued from the R617 in a massive operation in the Kokstad area.
The defence force, police search and rescue, private paramedics including Netcare911, and volunteer rescuers were involved.
- East Coast Radio
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