A milk truck and a vehicle were involved in a crash on the R617 intersection near Sakabula in Merrivale leaving six people from the vehicle injured on Monday afternoon.
The driver of the milk truck also had a knee injury.
When The Witness arrived at the scene, paramedics from Midlands EMS and firefighters from Umgungundlovu District were still trying to remove one person was severely entrapped. Specialised rescue equipment from Midlands EMS were used.
According to people at the scene, the driver of the vehicle turned towards R617 and crash into a truck with over 20 000 litres of milk. The truck was on R617 towards Pietermaritzburg.
The truck driver said he did his best to stop with the amount of milk he was carrying.
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Deputy mayor of uMngeni Municipality, Sandile Mnikathi, who was also at the scene said they were concerned about the amount of accidents on this intersection.
“There’s been a lot of accidents on this road and it’s a concern. We have traffic officers controlling traffic during peak hours. That is all we can do for now since the road belongs to the Department of Transport. We are however engaging with the department to see what can be done on this road to curb accidents,” said Mnikathi.
There has been at least three accidents on this intersection since June and four people have died with multiple injured. The area has been named an accident zone by concerned residents.
The last fatal accident involved one vehicle that had left the roadway and rolled, landing on its roof down an embankment.
All four people on the vehicle were found to be entrapped and paramedic along with rescue workers had to cut the vehicle to gain access and assess the extent of the injuries. They all declared deceased on the scene.
Earlier in June, a taxi and a car collide, leaving four injured on the same intersection.
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