‘Miracle Baby’s’ Teen Mom Found As Lone Survivor of Horror N3 Van Reenen’s Pass Crash Recovers

• The family of a one-year-old baby girl, the only surviving victim of the horror N3 accident on Monday, 6 January 2025, has been found
• Six of Baby Luyanda Sigubudu's relatives died when a taxi with 18 people inside crashed head-on into a truck on Van Reenen's Pass
• KwaZulu-Natal authorities have launched a manhunt for an identified Zimbabwean truck driver who fled the accident scene
• KZN Transport and Human Settlements MEC spokesperson Ndabezinhle Sibiya told Briefly News Baby Luyanda would soon be discharged

KWAZULU-NATAL — The only survivor of the devastating N3 Van Reenen's Pass accident, a one-year-old baby girl, is on the way to making a full recovery.

Seventeen people died after authorities revised the death toll down from 18 in the accident on Monday, 6 January 2025.

N3 crash 'miracle baby' making full recovery

KZN Transport and Human Settlements Member of the Executive Council (MEC) Siboniso Duma confirmed that a search for a Zimbabwean truck driver was underway the next day.

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Duma said the driver, who has since been identified as Mr N Mbedezi, fled the scene after the accident.

Since then, authorities have tracked down Baby Luyanda Sigubudu's surviving family in Tembisa, Gauteng, after six of them — grandmother Lindeni Sigubudu, grandfather Sihle Magoda, and relatives, all Magoda, Bongiswa, 16, Vuyiswa, 13, and twins Sfanelesbonge and Fanelesbonge, 9 — died in the accident.

Officials visited the 20-month-old while recovering in hospital. Meanwhile, her mother, Nqobile, 19, has been found.

Duma's spokesperson, Ndabezinhle Sibiya, told Briefly News he could not reveal the hospital in which Baby Luyanda was recovering.

He said she was expected to be discharged in the coming days.

Duma assured the family that his family would do everything possible to ease their pain and the burden on their shoulders.

"We again express our deepest condolences to all the victims' families."

Urging motorists to be extra careful on the road as rainy conditions persisted in various parts of KZN, he said a technical team met with police investigators and determined that the taxi had crashed head-on into the truck.

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"From the video footage obtained, the minibus [taxi] lost control, swerved into the oncoming traffic lane and collided with a truck at about 8.30pm.

"At the time, there was rain, and the conditions were dark and misty.

"The truck, driving southbound, was heading towards Durban from Johannesburg, and the taxi was heading in the opposite direction."

Source: Briefly News