A bakkie carrying 24 primary school pupils crashed into a house, killing seven of the children in Edendale Road, Pietermaritzburg.

KwaZulu-Natal community safety MEC Willies Mchunu on Wednesday expressed sadness over the deaths of  the children who were killed when a bakkie overturned on

"It is extreme unfortunate that we have to learn of yet another loss of young lives in a bakkie accident," Mchunu said in a statement.

"This is despite our repeated calls for all stakeholders to take collective responsibility for road safety by, among others, ensuring that bakkies are used for what they are made for, which include works, and not to ferry people," he said.

The department said six children were killed in the accident, seven were critically injured and nine sustained minor injuries.

However, paramedics provided conflicting reports on the number of fatalities as Netcare 911 spokesman Chris Botha said seven children were killed.

ER24 spokesman Pieter Rossouw it appeared the bakkie veered off the road and crashed into a fence and a house.

"The collision killed six children under the age of 13 and left 18 others injured," he said.

Of the injured, seven were critical, nine sustained moderate injuries and two had minor injuries.

Botha said: "After triaging the injured, medics found that seven children tragically died due to the extensive injuries that they sustained, while 15 others sustained injuries ranging from critical to serious".

Mchunu said the bakkie was alleged to have been carrying 34 school pupils, and questioned why this allowed to have happened.

"How does it come about that a bakkie carries 34 people?"

"This is not an overload but a recipe for disaster."

He sent his condolences to the families of the children that were killed and said the department would investigate the cause of the accident.

22 pupils injured in KZN accident today

Twenty-two children were injured in a bus accident in Umlazi on Thursday morning, KwaZulu-Natal paramedics said.

Five were seriously injured and 17 sustained minor injuries, said Emergency Medical Services spokesman Robert Mckenzie.

"It appears that a mini-bus collided with a bus, just before 7am on the Mangosuthu Highway in Umlazi's V section," he said.

The driver of the minibus was critically injured and trapped when paramedics arrived on scene.

Mckenzie said the "jaws of life" was used to extricate him from the wreckage.

The injured were taken to Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital.

The children were all under the age of 13, he said.

No fatalities were reported.