Emergency workers were kept busy on Tuesday as road crashes left two people dead and two others seriously injured.
Both crashes took place in Durban, while a truck driver was trapped in his truck that caught alight on the N3.
The incident that claimed two lives, took place on the M1 Higginson Highway at around 6.30pm.
Garrith Jamieson from ALS Paramedics said the crash involved three vehicles and took place near Havenside Drive, in Chatsworth.
A man in his 50s and a woman in her 30s died on scene.
“On arrival paramedics found carnage as they found two badly damaged vehicles on the M1 Higginson Highway whilst one vehicle a bakkie had veered off the M1 coming to rest on Almond Road below,” said Jamieson.
He said the eThekweni Fire Department were called in as there were entrapments.
“Paramedics found two people severely entrapped in their vehicle on Almond Road and immediately began treating them,” Jamieson said.
“Unfortunately the driver of the bakkie, a male believed to be in his fifties, had sustained major injuries and there was nothing paramedics could do for him and he was declared deceased on the scene,” he said.
“The passenger had sustained serious injuries and whilst Advanced Life Support Paramedics worked to stabilise him the eThekweni Fire Department used the Jaws-of-Life and other hydraulic equipment to cut the man free,” Jamieson said.
“Once freed he was carefully extricated from the wreckage before being transported to a nearby hospital for the further care that he required.”
Jamieson said paramedics also found the female driver of one of the vehicles on the M1 had sustained major injuries and unfortunately had passed away before paramedics arrival.
“The third vehicle driver sustained no injuries.”
In the third incident two people sustained critical injuries following a truck and car crash on the M7 by Wakesleigh Road just before 11pm.
“ALS Paramedics Medical Services arrived on the scene to find total carnage after a light motor vehicle and a truck had collided in the intersection. The driver of the light motor vehicle, a male believed to be in his twenties was found severely entrapped in his vehicle with critical injuries,” Jamieson said.
“He was stabilised in the vehicle by Advanced Life Support Paramedics while the Durban Fire Department used the Jaws-of-Life and other hydraulic equipment to free the man from the wreckage,” he said.
“Once he was freed from the vehicle he was loaded into an awaiting ambulance and rushed through to a nearby Durban Hospital for the urgent care that he required.”
Jamieson said the passenger also sustained serious injuries and was transported to hospital.
He said by Wednesday morning one lane of the N3 Pietermaritzburg bound had been opened to traffic.
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