Multiple car crash on the N3 in Pietermaritzburg leaves 16 dead, others injured

At least 16 people are confirmed dead following a multiple-vehicle crash on the N3 south bound between the Peter Brown and Chatterton offramps in Pietermaritzburg in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The crash included two trucks, a bakkie, two minibus taxis and five other vehicles.

Netcare 911 spokesperson Shawn Herbst gives details on the crash:

Provincial Transport Department spokesperson Kwanele Ncalane says, “The accident involved 10 vehicles which were involved in a pile-up after a truck lost control and this resulted in a number of vehicles piling up. All the fatalities are believed to have been in a minibus taxi. We are currently trying to establish where the taxi was travelling from and where it was going. However the indications are that it was moving from Johannesburg to Harding,” says Ncalane.

Meanwhile, the KwaZulu-Natal Transport Department says rubbernecking is suspected to have played a role in the crash as early indications are, that initially, two trucks collided but that rubbernecking led to further collisions between eight other vehicles including a fully loaded minibus taxi.

Traffic on this stretch of the highway has come to a standstill while emergency services clear up the scene. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the crash.