Three children among 16 injured after taxi and SUV collide on R102 in Nyaninga

Sixteen people were injured after a taxi and a car collided on the R102 in Nyaninga, KwaZulu-Natal, according to The Citizen.

What happened

According to The Citizen, members of the Reaction Unit SA (RUSA) were called to the scene at around 5:42pm, where a white Toyota Quantum taxi and a grey Jeep SUV had crashed at the intersection.

Who was hurt

The occupants of the Jeep included three children aged three, six and 10, along with their parents, who sustained minor injuries, The Citizen reports. Eleven occupants from the taxi suffered mild to moderate injuries and were taken to the nearest hospital for further medical treatment, according to The Citizen.

Response and investigation

The Citizen says the cause of the accident is still under investigation.

Related incident attended by RUSA

According to The Citizen, RUSA also responded earlier that week to a vehicle-related incident in eThekwini in which three armed hijackers repeatedly contacted a man believed to be an employee or installer for a vehicle tracking company. The callers allegedly sought telephonic assistance to locate and remove a tracking device from a hijacked vehicle while holding the driver at gunpoint.

The Citizen reports reaction unit officers were called out on Wednesday evening at 6:30pm to the R102 near the Ottawa traffic lights in KwaZulu-Natal. The 44-year-old victim told reaction officers that three armed men approached his white Nissan NP200 while it was stopped at the intersection, pointed firearms at him and forcibly removed him from the driver’s seat. The suspects then entered the vehicle and an unidentified vehicle followed behind, The Citizen says.

According to The Citizen, the suspects drove around for approximately two hours attempting to locate and remove the vehicle’s tracking device. They eventually travelled to Hazelmere in KwaZulu-Natal, where they reportedly had a stronger cellphone signal and made several phone calls to a man who guided them through the process.

Before the victim was released, The Citizen reports the suspects robbed him of R600 and his cellphone and abandoned him on the roadside. The stolen white Nissan NP200 has not been recovered, The Citizen says.