Durban - The inclement weather was hinted at as a factor in a number of accidents on KwaZulu-Natal roads on Wednesday, with seven people dying.
In the first accident, four people were killed when a bus hit two taxis on Wednesday morning on the M25 near Inanda’s Dube Village.
It was believed that the bus, belonging to Durban company Metro Bus collided with a taxi that was making a U-turn at a set of traffic lights. The impact caused the bus to barrel into another taxi which was loading passengers.
Police said they were looking for the driver of the first taxi as he had disappeared after the accident.
The accident came a week after four people died on the same road, near Bridge City mall in KwaMashu.
Police spokesman Jay Naicker said four women, aged between 27 and 44, were killed.
Inanda police were investigating a case of culpable homicide and the circumstances around the accident, he said.
A man who lived nearby, Martin Dlomo, 35, said he was asleep at about 7am when he was woken by a “huge bang. I thought it was one of the normal accidents that occur on the road. My wife went to check and I heard her scream… I got up and was met by the sight of people and bodies strewn across the road.”
KZN Emergency Medical Services (EMS) spokesman Robert McKenzie said several EMS vehicles were dispatched to the scene. “Four people died. Paramedics treated six others, one of whom was critically injured and trapped in one of the vehicles.”
The jaws of life had to be used to free the trapped patient, who was taken to Albert Luthuli Hospital in Durban.
Metro Bus said it was still awaiting a report from its driver, adding that he was still with police and undergoing counselling.
In a separate incident, three people were killed in a collision involving a truck and car on the R617 between Bulwer and Underberg
.
McKenzie said the two men and a woman had been travelling in the car.
“The driver of the truck and a fourth occupant of the car, both men, were critically injured and were taken to St Apollinaris hospital.”
It was not known if the inclement weather conditions contributed to the accidents, but Police said there had been multiple accidents on Wednesday.
The Mercury