At least 13 people died in a collision between two trucks, two cars and a minibus taxi near Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday, police said.
The driver of a truck is believed to have fled, cars rode over the bodies of injured victims, and appalled traffic officers threw up at the roadside.
Police spokesperson Captain Charmaine Struwig said all 13 dead had been taxi occupants, and included the taxi driver.
Initially it was reported that there were 12 dead, but as authorities worked through the wreckage they found another body.
Six people were taken by Emergency Medical Rescue Services to the Ladysmith Provincial Hospital. Three were reported to be in a critical condition.
The collision took place on the R103 between Ladysmith and the N3 highway.
Struwig said it was believed that a truck had veered into oncoming traffic, colliding with the taxi. Another truck and two cars behind the taxi crashed into it.
”The taxi was completely ripped open and the majority of the passengers were flung out onto the road. The two cars had then trampled on some of the bodies,” she said.
Some of the bodies were recovered from under the truck. Police have launched a search for the driver of the first truck.
”The driver of the first truck, which veered across the road, has not yet been accounted for and police suspect he may have fled from the scene soon after the collision had occurred,” Struwig said in a statement.
Police said accident reconstruction experts from Johannesburg had been called in to help with the investigation.
Mariska Grobbelaar, a Ladysmith Herald journalist at the scene, said: ”It was literally a war zone. We had RTI [Road Traffic Inspectorate] officers throwing up at the side of the road.”
Bheki Cele, the province’s safety and security minister, sent his condolences to the bereaved families.
”At this stage, we believe the truck driver cut a corner and took the taxi by surprise and the other cars could not stop in time,” said Cele.
Cele said at least 15 people were aboard the taxi at the time. – Sapa