Mhlaba Memela

Mhlaba Memela

Eighteen taxi passengers narrowly escaped death when two taxis collided and overturned on the N2 outside Durban.

Eyewitnesses said the driver of one of the taxis crashed side-on with another minibus yesterday morning while travelling at high speed.

Passengers were thrown out of both vehicles and lay scattered across the busy road.

Emergency rescue teams had to struggle to remove the injured passengers from the highway before transporting them to hospitals in the greater Durban area.

Peak hour traffic was disrupted for more than two hours.

One passenger said she saw a taxi speeding off the M25 and hitting the taxi she was travelling in.

"It slammed against my side," she said. "Everything happened quickly and I thought we were all going to die - but our ancestors saved us.

"I'm happy that no one died in this horrible accident."

ER24 spokesman Derrick Banks said the victims suffered lacerations and abrasions and most of them were treated at the scene of the accident.

"The driver apparently went through an intersection and collided side-on with the other taxi," a witness said.

"We have four people seriously injured and they were treated for back and neck injuries before being taken to hospitals for further treatment."