Five die on the roads in Mpumalanga, four on the N3
Authorities in
Mpumalanga say five people lost their lives in three separate crashes that
occurred in that last 24 hours.
The provincial’s Department of Community Safety, Security’s Moeti Mmusi says two people died when a taxi traveling to Mozambique overturned on N4 toll road near Komatipoort around 6 a.m. on Saturday morning.
“About 14 passengers were injured, and the paramedics are still at the scene. The two, a male and female, passed away at the scene of the crash,” says Mmusi.
He adds two more people died on N4 toll road near Elandshoek towards Mbombela when a truck collided with a light delivery vehicle.
Mmusi says at midnight another head-on crash occurred between the truck and the bus on N4 toll road near Malelane.
“The driver of the truck was killed at the scene. Six people escaped with slight injuries and were taken to Shongwe Hospital.”
Meanwhile, three fatal crashes were reported on the N3 highway between Johannesburg and the Durban.
The N3 Toll Concession’s Con Roux says four people lost their lives.
“The initial reports from the scene were that the overloading of cars with too many passengers might have played a role in at least two of them,” says Roux.
Roux says the traffic on the N3 is extremely heavy and started at 3 a.m. on Saturday.
“The traffic count through the Hoek Plaza was over 2000 per hour. So extremely heavy as the last of the holidaymakers leave Johannesburg and head down to the coast.”
Roux says they expect traffic on the highway to slow down on Sunday.
Listen to Roux below: