Truck crash disrupts N3 traffic

2010-03-09 07:28

Pietermaritzburg - Traffic on the N3 highway in Pietermaritzburg was backed-up after a truck accident in which three construction workers were killed and several others injured, KwaZulu-Natal paramedics said on Tuesday.

Traffic was affected towards Pietermaritzburg near Town Hill where the accident occurred, said Netcare 911 spokesperson Jeff Wicks.

"One lane on the N3 has been reopened and debris and wreckage of the trucks is still to be cleared."

The accident happened when a truck carrying plastic piping lost control on the bend near Town Hill and struck a worker, killing him.

"This happened at midnight and one lane had to be closed...shortly after, two trucks - one carrying fish and another carrying steel - ploughed into the rest of the workers on the side of the closed lane.

"The fish truck veered off the road and struck the steel truck, that one then hit the plastic piping truck, which was still on the road."

The bodies of two other workers were found on the side of the road near the embankment.

Two more workers were critically injured and three others suffered minor injuries.

They were taken to hospital, said Wicks.

- SAPA