IN THE mad rush to get her hands on a few sardines a Durban woman yesterday fell and broke her leg.

As hundreds of people flocked to Amanzimtoti Main Beach to catch a glimpse of the silvery fish, the woman "stepped wrong and fractured her leg".

"Netcare 911's paramedics were called to the scene and after stabilising the woman, they took her to the hospital," paramedic Chris Botha said.

KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board head of operations Michael Anderson-Reade, who has been among the "sardines lookout crew", said the sardine frenzy had moved along the coast and the "action" was in Pipeline, Amanzimtoti Main Beach and Chain Rocks.

On Monday "sardine fever" had hit the Durban beachfront.

Anderson-Reade predicted that more sardines would be netted in Durban yesterday afternoon.

Each winter, most often in June or July, millions of the silvery sardines leave the cold waters off Cape Point and make their way up the coast to KwaZulu-Natal.