Eight people from the same family, with links to Dundee,  were killed and four injured in a collision between a bakkie and a truck on the R103 near Besters, Ladysmith area, late on Saturday afternoon.

Included in the list of casualties is a four-month-old baby. The jaws-of-life were used to cut the dead and injured from the wreckage.

RTI and other emergency services responded to the accident. There was a delay in cutting the dead from the wreckage as police forensic experts were called to the scene.

“Major routes are experiencing volumes in excess of 2000-plus vehicles per hour,”said an RTI spokesperson.

They were traveling from Cape Town and were going to visit family in the Dundee area.

The deceased were named as William Avery (69), Martha Avery (66), Shane Avery (45), Arlene Avery (43), Jacues Avery (29), Ryan Avery (12), Shaylene Avery (8) and Angelo (no surname available at time of going to press) who was fourteen.