One dead, 14 Injured in Bronkhorstspruit pile-up

One person died and 14 were injured in a 16-vehicle pileup near Bronkhorstspruit on Sunday, said Tshwane emergency services.

   

The N4 freeway had to be closed after the crash which took place  just past the Bronkhorstspruit toll plaza at 1pm, said spokesman Johan Pieterse.

   

There were vehicles all over the freeway, he said.

   

Pieterse said emergency workers thought a truck and 14 cars piled into the back of another truck because of thick smoke blowing across the road from a grass fire raging in the area.

   

One person died. The injured included five men, six women and three children, all of whom were believed to have been in the cars.  Four of them were critically injured and four were seriously hurt.

   

Pieterse said the fire was still burning shortly after 2pm and that firefighters were busy extinguishing it.

   

He said the road would probably remain closed for at least two hours, and he advised motorists to use alternative routes.

   

-Sapa