Eight people died when their cars crashed on the N2 near Butterworth on Monday, Eastern Cape police said.
A Toyota Avanza headed for East London with nine people inside veered out of control and overturned, said Captain Jackson Manatha.
It collided with an oncoming Volkswagen Citi Golf belonging to an Umsobomvu police station constable, who was travelling towards Butterworth with two female passengers.
The Avanza was driven by a schoolteacher, whose passengers included municipal workers and other people she had picked up on her way to Nomaheya High School, in Nqamakwe, where she worked.
Seven of them killed. A woman in the Golf also died.
Manatha said the schoolteacher and one of her passengers were seriously injured, as were the constable and his other passenger. They were all taken to a nearby hospital.
The municipal employees were wearing Amathole district overalls and some of them had been identified, Manatha said.
“We urge relatives to come to [the] forensic mortuary to identify the deceased and also to identify their belongings at Butterworth Police Station,” he said.
“Among the belongings in the Avanza were two plastic bags that were full of dagga zols ready for sale,” Manatha said.
– SAPA