Four people died in a horror crash in the Free State on Wednesday morning.

The tragedy occurred when a private ambulance overturned in the early hours of the morning. Later, a state ambulance on its way to hospital collided with a stationary truck which, in turn, crashed into the overturned private ambulance. 

According to Sipho Towa of Free State Emergency Medical Services (EMS), the accident occurred on the R721 between Kroonstad and Vredefort at around 05:00.

Police capt. Stephen Thakeng said the driver and his passenger in the private ambulance died, while a couple inside the second ambulance were also killed. 

He added that a case of culpable homicide was registered for further investigation. 

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Five people were critically injured – two of them were airlifted to a nearby private hospital and three were transported to Boitumelo Regional Hospital, Towa said. 

The road was closed while authorities cleared the scene. 

In another incident on Tuesday evening, a motorist was killed after ploughing into four cows.

Towa said the accident happened on the R34 between Bothaville and Allanridge at around 22:00. 

"The car drove into four cows and unfortunately, the driver was declared dead on the scene," Towa said. 

He added that the driver had been travelling alone.

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