Durban - A man was killed and his two passengers seriously injured on Thursday after a truck veered off a road in Reservoir Hills and crashed into a house.
Garrith Jamieson, spokesman for Rescue Care Paramedics said emergency services were called out to a house at the intersection of Battersea Avenue and Arnott Road in Reservoir Hills at shortly before 5.30pm.
"On arrival paramedics found that the truck had left the road way and gone into a house. Three occupants in the front of the truck were severely entrapped. Unfortunately the driver of the truck had sustained fatal injuries and there was nothing more paramedics could do for him and there was nothing more we could do for him at the scene," Jamieson said.
He said the driver's two front passenger were severely entrapped and the jaws of life and other hydraulic equipment had to be used to free them.
"One freed they were transported to hospital for further care that they needed. There were four occupants on the back of the truck that were also injured and they were treated on scene before being rushed to hospital. At this stage the events leading up to the collision are unknown. However police were in attendance and will be investigating further," he said.
Rescue workers used the jaws of life and other hydraulic equipment had to be used to free the two severely entrapped people inside the truck. Video: Rescue Care Paramedics.
No one in the house was injured.
The fatal crash was one of several to occur in Durban during the stormy weather that lashed the city.
Earlier in the day 16 people were injured in a head on collision on the M13 Durban Bound near Rockdale.
Sixteen people were injured in a head-on collision on the M13 Durban Bound near Rockdale on Thursday morning. Paramedics arrived on the scene to find a taxi on its roof across the highway. Picture: Rescue Care Paramedics.
Jamieson said paramedics arrived on the scene to find a taxi on its roof across the highway.
"Multiple people were found lying on the highway whilst one occupant of the vehicle was entrapped in the passenger seat. Immediately more ambulances as well as Advanced Life Support Units and Rescue were dispatched to assist. The Jaws of Life were used to cut the seriously injured passenger free from the wreckage. Once free the patient was loaded into an ambulance and rushed through to Hospital. The remaining patients who had all sustained injuries ranging from minor to serious once stabilised were transported to various Durban Hospitals for the further care that they required," Jamieson said.
The KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison Bheki Ntuli urged road users to be vigilant on the road as heavy rains are expected for the rest of the week.
The South African Weather Services (SAWS) has warned that there is a possibility of damaging winds and heavy downpours leading to flooding over the most parts of the province and will continue for the rest of the week, with some areas receiving just over 90% chances of rain.
The transport department said the The M4 Ruth First Highway between Sibaya drive and uMhlanga Rocks Drive is still closed off to the traffic since Monday following a damage caused by heavy downpours which resulted in the support embarkment to be eroded.
This left an approximately 3.5 meters cavity beneath the road layers.
Technicians on site have warned that the damage continues to escalate as downpours persists.
The R22 near Hluhluwe is also currently closed following heavy rains.
Motorists in these areas are urged to use alternative roads, be extra cautious and exercise patience.
Ntuli also urged motorists not to use low-lying bridges during heavy rains.