Truck’s Dashcam Captures Taxi Crashing Head-On in N3 Van Reenen’s Pass Tragedy in Which 17 Killed

• A video has surfaced showing a taxi with 18 people colliding with a truck in a fatal accident on the N3 Van Reenen's Pass
• The accident on Monday, 6 January 2025, involved a truck, a taxi and a car, with all but one person — a baby girl — dying
• Seventeen people were killed in the crash, with dashcam footage from the truck showing the moment of the deadly impact

KWAZULU-NATAL — Dashcam footage from a truck involved in the N3 Van Reenen's Pass crash in which 17 people were killed on Monday, 6 January 2025, shows the moment the devastating accident unfolds.

The crash, which occurred at about 8.30pm on the night, reportedly involved a heavy vehicle, a taxi, and a passenger car.

Van Reenen's Pass crash footage surfaces

Authorities said the taxi was heading to Durban from Johannesburg while the truck travelled southbound in the opposite direction.

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Briefly News reported that the only crash survivor dubbed the miracle baby, Luyanda Sigubudu, was discharged after spending 10 days in the hospital.

Ten adults — seven men and three women — and seven minors, consisting of four girls and three boys, were among the dead.

After losing six of her relatives, including her grandparents, with whom she was travelling back to their home in Nquthu, Baby Luyanda was reunited with her mother, Nqobile, 19, on 16 January.

The KwaZulu-Natal Transport and Human Settlements arranged a mass funeral at the weekend. Meanwhile, a search for a Zimbabwean truck driver, who allegedly fled following the accident, is still underway.

Published on the @VehicleTrackerz X page, a 31-second clip depicts the truck driving along a wet surface.

The dashcam footage shows it travelling at a speed of about 60km. It maintains this speed, and a few seconds later, the bright headlights of the taxi, a Toyota Quantum, emerge as it speeds down the opposite lane.

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Watch the video here.

The taxi veers across the seemingly wet road surface, which was wet at the time, and smashes into the heavy vehicle on its left side.

The truck can be seen slowing following the impact until it reaches a complete stop after a few seconds on the noticeably dark route.

The video, published at 10:22pm on 10 January, four days after the fatal accident, attracted nearly 480,000 views.

Driver flees after container kills 1 on N3

In a related story, Briefly News reported that a search is underway for the truck driver involved in a fatal accident on the N3 route in Pietermaritzburg.

One person was killed in the accident, and two others were injured when two vehicles collided with a large container in the middle of the road. The container fell off the back of a truck in the early hours of Saturday morning, 18 January.

Source: Briefly News