KwaZulu-Natal paramedics were greeted by a horror scene of bodies strewn all over the road, after a truck ploughed into four full taxis and a car on Thursday.
Spokesperson for ER 24, Werner Vermaak, said at least 24 people had been killed when the truck collided with the taxis and a car, on the corner of Fields Hill and Richmond roads in Pinetown.
Ambulances and numerous emergency services assisting the injured had to return to the scene after dropping off patients at nearby hospitals.
Of the 32 people who were hurt, 10 sustained critical injuries.
“When paramedics arrived they found people and debris scattered across the scene,” Vermaak said.
He added that bystanders were flagging paramedics down and pointing in all directions where people were lying.
Vermaak said the cause of the accident was not yet known.
However, witnesses said the truck was travelling on Field’s Hill Road when it crashed into the vehicles near the intersection, dragging them with it and ripping it into pieces.
Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said patients were taken to the Khan and Inkosi Albert Luthuli hospitals.
Rescuers used the Jaws-of-Life to free some of the passengers from the wreckage.
Botha said bystanders helped paramedics by holding drip bags for some of the injured.
Source: News24
