Cape Town - It was a busy weekend for emergency services as multiple car crashes left people dead and injured across the Western Cape.
In one of the most horrific accidents in the Cape on Friday afternoon, all seven people in one of the cars involved died when a truck crashed into two cars and another truck at a busy intersection between Wolseley and Tulbagh near Artoise farm outside Ceres.
Eyewitness Piet Struis said the cars ahead of him all suddenly braked as the truck appeared to lose control.
“A truck driving in the direction of Ceres lost control and swerved head-on into a car," he said. "The car crashed into another car and another truck, just metres from us.
"We just saw metal and body parts flying through the air," the visibly traumatised Struis said. "It was horrific and not something I will ever forget.”
In an unrelated incident on Friday evening, a white Volkswagen Tiguan travelling on Prince George Drive near Lavender Hill ended up in a canal after the driver allegedly suffered a heart attack behind the wheel and lost control.
A VW Tiguan landed in canal in Lavender Hill.
On Saturday afternoon a Quantum taxi and a light motor vehicle collided on the corners of Old Strandfontein and Olieboom Road. The taxi landed on its side and passengers were flung out of the vehicle, but it wasn't clear whether there were any fatalities.
At about 9am on Sunday morning a 56-year-old rider died after apparently losing con trol of his motorcuycle on Newlands Avenue in Cape Town's southern suburbs. NetCare 911 spokesperson Tebogo Magoro said paramedics arrived on the scene and found the man had no pulse after sustaining multiple injuries.
“Despite extensive resuscitation efforts, the man was declared dead on the scene," he said. "SAPS officers were also on the scene to investigate."
Also on Sunday, the driver of a Ford Bantam lost control on the Aan De Doorns Road in Worcester and the bakkie rolled several times.
"One of the two male occupants in the bakkie died," reported provincial traffic chief Kenny Africa, "and the other was seriously injured and taken to a nearby hospital.”
And just before midnight on Sunday, a head-on collision involving a bus and a heavy motor vehicle closed down the N1 highway outside Touwsrivier, leaving the truck driver dead, his passeger seriously injured and six passengers on the bus slightly injured.
"The N1 had to be closed in both directions," said Africa.