A PASSENGER died when the driver of a speeding taxi lost control and the vehicle plunged into the fence of a cemetery, spilling 12 passengers on the Higgison Highway south of Durban yesterday.

It's alleged that the driver decided to take his passengers to the Mobeni Heights cemetery when they annoyed him with an appeal to stop speeding.

One passenger died and another is in a serious condition in hospital, while 12 passengers escaped with light injuries.

It took the emergency rescue team two hours to free two passengers trapped in the wreckage.

ER24 spokesperson Derrick Banks said when paramedics arrived on the scene they found the taxi down the embankment with passengers "lying all over".

An injured passenger claimed that the driver showed no interest in their safety.

"He was just rushing to make money. When the taxi left the road he was busy dealing with change," he said.

Banks said injured people were treated on the scene for possible fractures to minor to moderate injuries.

"All the patients were stabilised on the scene before been taken to various hospitals," he said.

A motorist told Sowetan that the minibus had passed her at high speed.

"Taxi drivers flick their lights at us on the highway and you are left with no choice but to give way," she said. "I was surprised to see the taxi lying on the graveyard embankment."

Banks said it was unclear how the accident happened but the taxi might have had a mechanical problem that caused the driver to lose control.