Three people were killed and six injured when a taxi and a car travelling in opposite directions collided.
|||Nine people died and several others were injured in six separate accidents across the Western Cape at the weekend.
Three people were killed and six injured when a taxi and a car travelling in opposite directions collided on the N7 near Melkbos on Sunday.
Cape Town traffic services spokeswoman Merle Lourens said the taxi, which had been travelling in the of the city, had lost its right wheel causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle.
The taxi then collided with a Toyota Prado, which was travelling in the opposite direction.
Both vehicles then veered to the side of the road.
Two men and a woman who were in the taxi were killed and six people injured, Lourens said.
“The owner of the Prado, a lady, had serious injuries and was airlifted to hospital.
“Her 14 year-old son, who was with her in the vehicle, was unscathed.”
Meanwhile, the driver of a Hilux bakkie is recovering in hospital with serious injuries after his vehicle struck a lamp post on the N1.
ER24 paramedics found the injured man next to the highway near the Koeberg interchange early on Sunday.
ER24’s Derrick Banks said paramedics had found the bakkie “off the road and resting in vegetation”.
“The paramedics assessed the patient and found that the patient had a suspected head injury with possible broken ribs.”
He also had cuts and bruises on his legs and arms. He was taken to Somerset Hospital.
On Friday, three people died when the stolen vehicle they were travelling in hit a wall in Epping.
Eight people were in the vehicle when it smashed into the wall at Gunners Circle.
Provincial police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk said a Toyota Conquest, which had been reported stolen at the Elsies River police station, had been found at the accident scene.
The vehicle had been reported stolen at about 7pm and had been recovered at about 8pm. Witnesses said the driver had lost lost control and hit the wall, Van Wyk said.
The driver and a passenger had been declared dead at the scene while a third person had died in hospital, said provincial traffic spokesman Jacques Mostert.
Two passengers are recovering in hospital and those who were not injured were arrested for theft of a motor vehicle.
The names of those who died had not been released by late yesterday.
Police are investigating a case of culpable homicide and theft of a motor vehicle.
On Saturday, one person was killed in a head-on collision between a heavy motor vehicle and a minibus taxi at about 4.45am on the N1 between Beaufort and Three Sisters.
Mostert said the group in the minibus appeared to be heading to a church service when the vehicles collided.
Also on Saturday, a 24-year-old man was killed while crossing the R300 near the Hindle Road turnoff in Delft.
Two pedestrians were hit and a 23-year-old was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
Mostert added that a 30-year-old man had been killed while crossing the opposite side of R300, also near the Hindle Road turn-off, early on Saturday night.
natasha.prince@inl.co.za
Cape Argus