More than 40 people were injured in Durban in the early hours of Tuesday morning when a bus careened across a central median and rolled onto its side on the city's western highway (N3).
Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said one person was critically injured, while another 12 sustained serious injuries and 29 suffered minor injuries.
It is not immediately clear what caused the SA Roadlink bus to veer out of its lane into the central median and then slide on its side into the oncoming traffic lanes near the city's Paradise Valley area.
KwaZulu-Natal transport spokesperson Zinhle Mngomezulu could not be reached for comment.
The Durban Fire Brigade had to use the Jaws of Life to free the critically injured passenger.
Nqobile Sibiya, a 26-year old passenger, who escaped injury, said he had been asleep at the time of the accident.
"I didn't see what happened. I was asleep and when I woke up the bus was like this and everybody was screaming," he said.
The bus had left Johannesburg the night before and was due to arrive at Durban's main railway station less than 30 minutes after the accident. It was not known how many people were on the bus.
It was not clear what happened to the driver, but a traffic official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the driver had claimed he had "swerved for something".
Three people - including a six-year-old child - died when an SA Roadlink bus and a bakkie collided on the N2 near Plettenberg Bay in the early hours of November 26 last year.
On December 24 in 2006 another 12 people were killed when an SA Roadlink bus ploughed into a bridge on the N3 motorway in Pietermaritzburg.
- SAPA
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