WATCH | Truck crashes into dozens of cars near Pietermaritzburg, critical patient airlifted to hospital

Traffic ground to a halt when a truck lost control and crashed into several vehicles and trucks on the Pietermaritzburg carriageway of the N3 near Cliffdale on Thursday morning.

Garrith Jamieson of ALS Paramedics said there were more than 20 people injured after the truck “somehow lost control and ploughed into multiple cars and trucks”.

“One patient sustained critical injuries as he was rapped in the wreckage of a vehicle as it lay on its roof.”

He said responders used the jaws-of-life and other hydraulic equipment to cut him free and he was airlifted to hospital by the Netcare aeromedical helicopter.

The N3 was closed in both directions and the Pietermaritzburg-bound carriageway will be disrupted further as the scene is cleared and the vehicles are recovered.

Motorists have been advised to avoid the area.

TimesLIVE