Three Dead In N1 Accident.

Three dead, including a seven year old child and many more were injured after the taxi they were travelling in overturned on the N1 freeway near Stormvol, north of Pretoria this afternoon.

Emergency personnel arrived on the scene where they found a taxi lying on its side with bodies strewn across the freeway. One patient was declared deceased on arrival by paramedics due to the serious injuries he had sustained. A woman and a child were in a critical condition and both required advanced life support intervention on the scene. The woman started to deteriorate and CPR was performed, however, she unfortunately passed away at the scene. The child, a seven year old girl, was allegedly partially stuck under the taxi before emergency personnel arrived on the scene, and was pulled out by other commuters who were not injured. The child was rushed to a nearby hospital but died moments later after arriving at the trauma unit.

Five people sustained serious injuries and another eight sustained minor to moderate injuries. All were stabilised on the scene and transported to various hospitals for further medical care.

It is believed that the taxi that was travelling along the N1 from Pretoria towards Hammanskraal had some sort of mechanical difficulty causing the driver to lose control, go through the centre medium and roll onto the N1 heading back towards Pretoria. Traffic was affected in both directions.

The necessary authorities were on the scene and would be investigating the incident further.