Grim weekend death toll on KZN roads

Durban - More than 20 people, including a 10-month-old baby, were killed in 14 road crashes since the start of the long weekend. 

According to KZN EMS spokesperson Robert McKenzie, the baby, a 3-year-old and five members of the same family died when their Toyota Venture plunged into the waters of Imvutshane Dam in Maphumulo between KwaDukuza and Greytown. 

IPSS Medical Rescue, police search-and-rescue and the K9 Unit arrived on the scene to find six of the occupants dead in the vehicle, which was submerged about 5m underwater. 

The seventh person had been flung out of the vehicle when it hit the dam wall before rolling into the water. 

The Department of Transport said the preliminary police report indicated that the driver had lost control of the vehicle as a result of brake failure. 

A family member said the family was in the dark about the cause of the accident. He added that they were was “worried” about the condition of the bridge that was constructed in 2014.

“The road that leads to the bridge is dangerous and the bridge does not have the railings or high walls that would have prevented the car from plunging into the dam,” he said. 

On Sunday the funeral was held for Phoenix brothers Threshen, 23, and Nikiel Karamchand, 17, who died in a car crash on the Phoenix Highway on Saturday night. 

It is believed the driver of the Toyota Corolla lost control, crashing into the concrete barrier in the centre of the road just before 9pm.

According to KZN VIP paramedics, the boys were declared dead on the scene.
 
Less than an hour earlier, Rescue Care attended to the scene of a pile-up involving a truck, an SUV and a car in which two people were killed and three injured. 

Rescue Care spokesperson Garrith Jamieson said the crash happened on the N3 Durban-bound near Richmond Road off-ramp in Pinetown. 

Other fatal crashes were reported on the N2 between Zinkwazi and Mandeni, on Blair Atholl Road in Westville, in Gingindlovu, Groutville and Estcourt.