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Four dead 62 injured in KZN accidents overnight

49 vehicles and 3 trucks were involved in the accident. Photo Thulani Mbele.
49 vehicles and 3 trucks were involved in the accident. Photo Thulani Mbele.

Four people died and 62 were injured in KwaZulu-Natal in various accidents overnight, the health department said on Tuesday.

"Paramedics from KZN emergency medical services responded to multiple accidents across the province last night, which followed on from an already busy day yesterday [Monday]," EMS spokesman Robert Mckenzie said.

On Monday night a bus left the road and overturned in the Makhowe area in Hluhluwe, Umkhanyakude district.

The bus came to rest on its roof down a small embankment. Paramedics arrived and found one person had died and 48 other people were injured.

In a separate accident, two people died and three people were injured on the R34 just after midnight.

Mckenzie said a bakkie which was towing another bakkie collided with a truck.

"Sadly two occupants in this vehicle were fatally injured, and a third occupant survived with serious injuries. The other bakkie reportedly overturned and the driver sustained minor injuries," he said.

The driver of the truck was seriously injured and the jaws-of-life were used to free him from the truck.

"There were at least three serious collisions in the Ugu district, [in the] south of the province, where one person was killed and at least at least 11 people were injured."

He said the fatal accident happened on the N2 near Paddock. A single vehicle accident resulted in one fatality and three people were injured.

The cause of the collisions would be investigated, he said.

"Emergency services are still on high alert with traffic volumes expected to increase from today [Tuesday]," said Mckenzie.

He urged motorists to drive carefully.

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