The N1 to Beaufort West in the Western Cape has been reopened to traffic after a collision involving two trucks and three buses outside Laingsburg earlier on Friday.
Seven people were killed and 17 seriously injured, among them a seven-year-old girl.
Police spokesperson Ntobeko Mangqwengqwe said the accident occurred when a bus heading toward Cape Town and a truck moving in the opposite direction collided. Two other buses and a truck then crashed into the vehicles that had collided.
A 53-year-old truck driver, his 45-year-old passenger and two men and three women from the buses were killed on impact.
Seventeen passengers were rushed to the Laingsburg and Prince Albert hospitals for treatment.
Details of the victims cannot be disclosed until their next of kin have been informed. — Sapa