A woman died after a truck she was travelling in overturned outside Pietermaritzburg on Saturday morning, Kwazulu-Natal paramedics said.

The truck overturned on the "notorious" Apples bend as they were descending the Town Hill section of the N3, said ER24 spokesperson Ross Campbell.

"The container they were transporting was apparently flung across the oncoming highway," he said.

Campbell said that when paramedics arrived on scene around 06:30, they found the 42-year-old driver "hanging out the windshield and the passenger entrapped".

The driver was rushed to hospital in a serious condition. His passenger was declared dead on scene.

Authorities were investigating further.