3 dead, 37 injured in weekend crashes in KZN
Police are investigating a crash that killed two men on the M4 highway early Sunday morning, one of several horror crashes that occurred around Durban.
|||Durban - Police are investigating a crash that killed two men on the M4 highway early Sunday morning.
It was one of several horror crashes that occurred around Durban this weekend.
The police said the incident occurred on the M4 northbound, near the Quality Street off-ramp at about 1.30am on Sunday.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokeswoman, Captain Nqobile Gwala, said a case of culpable homicide was being investigated by Wentworth Police.
She said the men, aged 23 and 29, had died in the crash. They were extracted from the wreckage by emergency staff using the jaws of life.
Garrith Jamieson, of Rescue Care Paramedics, who responded to the accident, said they found the driver and passenger trapped in the wreckage.
“Both patients were found to have sustained fatal injuries, and there was nothing more paramedics could do, and they were both declared deceased on the scene,” said Jamieson.
In an another crash, in Pietermaritzburg, 23 people sustained minor to moderate injuries when a bakkie they had been travelling in overturned at Snathing, near Edendale, at about 2pm on Saturday.
ER24 spokesman Werner Vermaak said the driver had apparently lost control of the vehicle, which then overturned, although the circumstances leading to that were unknown.
The vehicle was found on a district road, lying upside down against a guardrail, and with all its occupants near the bakkie.
“Twenty people were found with minor injuries, while three were found with moderate injuries. They were all treated and taken to Greys, Northdale and Pietermaritzburg provincial hospitals,” said Vermaak.
In another accident on Saturday, at about 10pm, one person was killed and another three injured after a taxi ploughed into them as they walked on Wiggins Road in Cato Manor.
“Rescue Care Paramedics arrived to find that four pedestrians had been hit while walking on the side of the roadway,” Jamieson said.
“Paramedics assessed the injured and found that a male in his twenties had sustained critical injuries and had died before paramedics arrived.
“He was declared dead at the scene,” said Jamieson.
According to Jamieson, the three other pedestrians were found to have sustained minor to moderate injuries, and were stabilised before being taken to a nearby hospital. The cause of the collision was unknown and police were investigating.
Another six people were injured on the N2 southbound near the Galleria Mall off-ramp on Saturday at about 12.30pm.
Jamieson said two vehicles collided head-on before one of the cars overturned, coming to rest on its side, while a third vehicle also sustained damage during the collision.
“Paramedics found two occupants entrapped in the vehicle as it lay on its side,” he said.
Firefighters and rescuers worked to free the two, who had both sustained serious injuries. They were stabilised by paramedics before being taken to a nearby hospital,” said Jamieson.
“At this stage the exact cause of the collision is unknown, however it is alleged that one vehicle travelling north crossed through the centre medium, colliding with the other two vehicles,” Jamieson said.
The other four people who had also been injured were stabilised before being taken to various Durban hospitals, Jamieson said.
Earlier on Saturday, five people, including an eight-year-old boy, sustained injuries after the vehicle they were travelling in went out of control and rolled, ejecting the driver, on Booth Road in Cato Manor at about 11am.
“Paramedics found a lady in her forties in a critical condition and paramedics placed her on a manual ventilator before putting her on a special spine board. She was then rushed to Nkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital,” said Jamieson.
The other four passengers were stabilised and taken to a nearby hospital, according to Jamieson.
Daily News