THREE people, including an 11-year-old girl, died in separate road crashes in Durban at the weekend.

The girl was hit by a truck on the M25 KwaMashu Highway near Besters, north of Durban, on Saturday night.

In another incident a man was killed when he was thrown from his overturning car after it veered off the N2 north-bound carriageway. He was thrown through a broken window.

Netcare 911 spokesperson Jeff Wicks said the schoolgirl was crossing the Durban-bound carriageway near a bridge when she was hit by an earth- moving vehicle.

"The truck drove over her body and crushed her beneath the wheels," Wicks said. "Paramedics facilitated the recovery of the girl's body from underneath the truck.

"She sustained polytraumatic injuries and was declared dead on the scene," Wicks said.

Meanwhile, a homeless man was killed by a speeding car at the Durban's Suncoast Casino while sleeping in the early hours of yesterday.

It's alleged that the driver lost control of his car at a traffic circle and plunged into the casino's fence. It crushed the man, who was sleeping in the bushes.

Wicks said the car rolled through the outer fence and came to rest in the casino's parking lot.

"The homeless man was thought to have been sleeping in the bushes when he was crushed by the rolling car," he said.

He said the homeless man sustained head injuries and died on the scene. The driver was taken to hospital.