Inland South Africa snowfall occurs from time to time in winter, but large amounts of snow are rare. Media reports spoke of up to two metres of snow in some places.
On Sunday, two days after the snowfall began, traffic on the main N3 highway between Johannesburg and Durban on the country’s east coast remained congested over a 30-kilometer stretch, according to the operator. Countless cars, trucks and buses got stuck in the snow.
One fatality
According to rescue workers, a woman died of hypothermia in a hospital on Saturday after being stuck in a minibus with other passengers all night.
Photo gallery: Extreme amounts: Snow chaos in South Africa
(Foto: GRANT BRUCE CAMERON-ELLIS (AFP)) Bild 1/11
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Rescue and clearance work continued on Sunday in the Drakensberg Mountains on the highway between Johannesburg and Durban. Vehicles that had broken down and had been abandoned by their occupants were hindering the clearance and rescue services. It remained unclear how many vehicles and how many occupants were still blocked on Sunday.