Three people were killed this morning on the N10 between Cradock and Middelburg when a car hit a kudu and then collided with an oncoming truck.
Two others were seriously injured.
Provincial Traffic deputy director Charles Bramwell says a police member attending to the accident scene was then seriously injured when he was hit by a passing vehicle.
Bramwell says the accident happened at around 2 am.
Three men died at the scene and a man and a woman were rushed to hospital with serious injuries.
Bramwell says the policeman, who was injured in the line of duty, was flown to hospital in Bloemfontein for emergency treatment.
No names have been released at this stage and police have opened a culpable homicide docket.
