Accidents have claimed three lives and left 30 people injured in KwaZulu-Natal in the past 24 hours, paramedics and police said on Friday.

ER24 spokesperson Derrick Banks said a driver died when she lost control of her vehicle in Durban Road, Pietermaritzburg, on Friday.

The car hit several trees before she was thrown out. "She died at the scene and the vehicle was completely mangled," he said.

In another accident earlier on Friday, one person died and 16 were injured when two taxis and a car collided in Durban's North Coast Road.

Banks said the driver of the car was declared dead on the scene while 16 taxi passengers were taken to hospital with multiple injuries.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known.

One person died and 14 others were injured in another taxi accident, this time on the N2 highway near Shikishela on Thursday.

Captain Jabulani Mdletshe said the taxi was travelling towards Richard's Bay when its rear tyre burst, the driver lost control and the taxi overturned.

The person who died was identified as Musawenkosi Nkosi.

The injured were taken to Ngwelezane hospital.