DURBAN - As the heavy rain across KwaZulu-Natal continues, on Sunday the wet roads proved deadly after several accidents in the province resulted in 11 deaths and 20 people being injured.
Just after 11pm on Sunday Netcare 911 spokesperson Shawn Herbst said paramedics responded to a collision on the N2 just before Hibberdene on the KZN South Coast.
Herbst said resorts indicated that a light delivery vehicle and a light motor vehicle were involved in a head-on collision.
“Medics found that three people had sustained fatal injuries, three people had sustained serious injuries and another three had sustained moderate injuries,” he said.
Herbst said the injured patients were treated on scene by paramedics from private and government services, and once stabilised were transported by ambulance to a hospital for further care.
Just before 7pm, ALS Paramedics Medical Services responded to an accident on 1st Avenue and Ascot Street in Greyville.
Paramedic Garrith Jamieson said when paramedics arrived they found two vehicles on the road.
“One person, a female, believed to be in her twenties, sustained fatal injuries and there was nothing more paramedics could do for her and she was declared deceased on the scene,” he said.
Also on Sunday night just before 7pm, KZN Emergency Medical Services spokesperson Robert McKenzie said there was a serious crash in northern KZN on the N3 northbound near the Loskop off-ramp.
“A collision involving two light motor vehicles has tragically resulted in four fatalities and left four people critically injured,” he said.
McKenzie said paramedics transported the injured patients to a hospital for further medical care.
Meanwhile IPSS Medical Rescue responded to two accidents on the N2 highway.
IPSS spokesperson Dylan Meyrick, said two people died and three were injured in a three-car collision.
Meyrick said the accident occurred at bridge number 12 near Mandeni.
He said three patients who were in a critical condition were transported by IPSS Medical Rescue’s advanced life support paramedics to a hospital for further care.
“The occupants, a male and female in the third vehicle, were killed on impact, and there was nothing paramedics could do for them when they arrived on scene,” said Meyrick.
IPSS later returned to the N2 at bridge 10 near Gingindlovu for reports of another serious collision.
“On arrival, paramedics found two vehicles had been involved in a head-on collision, leaving four people in a critical condition. The patients were treated on scene by Advanced Life Support paramedics before being transported to various facilities for further care,” he said.
Meanwhile, on the N3 highway between Tugela Plaza and Van Reenen’s Pass in northern KZN, two trucks and a vehicle were involved in an accident.
“Sadly, one person sustained fatal injuries in this crash and paramedics have treated three critically-injured patients and have transported them to hospital for continued medical care,” said McKenzie.
McKenzie appealed to motorists to drive carefully in the rainy weather.
“We would like to remind motorists to please be extremely careful when they're driving in these rainy conditions. We would like motorists to slow down when they're driving and to switch their headlights on,” he advised.
