Eight people, including a 10-year-old girl, were killed and five seriously injured in a collision between a minibus taxi and a truck near Potchefstroom, North West, in the early hours of Friday.
The crash occurred at the intersection of the R500 and R42 roads on the Potchefstroom route, said North West community safety and transport management spokesperson Alpheus Koonyaditse.
A minibus taxi towing a trailer and carrying 13 occupants was travelling from Fochville to Parys on the R500 when it collided with a truck transporting manganese.
Koonyaditse said the truck allegedly failed to stop at a stop-street intersection.
The impact of the collision left six men, a woman and a girl dead.
The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) said its chief executive, advocate Makhosini Msibi, dispatched a team of crash investigators to the scene to determine the exact cause of the collision.
The matter has also been reported to the police service in Buffelshoek for further investigation.
The crash comes as winter conditions begin to affect driving conditions across parts of the country. The RTMC urged motorists to exercise caution when travelling at night, particularly in areas affected by fog and mist. It also warned drivers against fatigue-related driving, noting that long-distance travel and cold weather can increase drowsiness behind the wheel.
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