Paramedics said on Saturday that seven people were injured when a truck collided with five vehicles on Sir Lowry’s Pass near Cape Town.

The truck’s brakes allegedly failed causing it to plow through other vehicles, said media reports.

Three people were reported to be critically injured. Two of injured had to be freed from the wreckage with the jaws-of-life, while one was airlifted to hospital.

While all this was going on, pedestrians and bystanders rushed the two totaled cars and started stripping them for scrap metal.

Photographer Leon Knipe, who was at the scene, said a group of people just emerged from the bushes at the side of the road and started pulling off wires and metal.

“They didn’t care that police or paramedics were at the scene and just started stripping the car.”

A group of people, including children, started pulling wires from the front of the vehicle while others inspected the sides to see what could be salvaged.

They did not seem to care that a police officer was standing in front of the vehicle.

Later a tow-truck driver arrived and loaded the vehicle while metal thieves continued to grab what they could find.

“It happens so quickly, especially where cars are destroyed in a fire, if it has no insurance or tow-trucks are not immediately available.”