Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga says an investigation is underway to determine the cause of Monday’s multi-vehicle pileup involving over 30 vehicles on the N3 northbound between Howick and Cedara outside Pietermaritzburg.
Six people died in the crash and at least 78 people were injured.
The incident forced authorities to close that stretch of the N3 for at least eight hours.
Chikunga says there are various factors that could have led to the crash.
“We wanted to also ascertain as to what happened but what we know is the investigation goes on, and we will wait for the investigation to be finalised and of course after that we will know of what happened. We always emphasise that the human factors are the causes of road accidents and they count for more than 8 % of accidents on the road and also environmental factors such as mist and so on.”
Chikunga has sent condolences to the families of the victims.
“We understand that six people lost their lives, five on the scene and one at the hospital, three of those are from one family. Our hearts go to those families and we wish that God give them strength to deal with the loss. But also we are aware that there are people in hospitals that sustained injuries. We visited three of them at Netcare. They are recuperating, others are waiting for operations. We will still go to other hospitals.”
The Minister briefs the media while at the scene of the accident:
The Minister has also visited the injured in hospital.
[JUST IN] Minister @SindiChikunga accompanied by the MEC of @KZNTransport, Mr Hlomuka visiting the Life Hilton Hospital to check on the victims that were injured on yesterday’s accident on the N3 South and North bound. pic.twitter.com/vGPQF7xodl
— Department of Transport (@Dotransport) April 11, 2023
