Cause of fatal Shaka's Head crash still a mystery: MEC

15 people died on the scene when the taxi they were travelling in plunged off a bridge and onto a railway line in Shaka's Head before a train struck it.

Another person died in hospital today bringing the death toll to 16. 

Mchunu has told reporters at the Umhlali Police Station the taxi had just exited the N2 highway when the accident happened.

''It's a mystery how in an area of that sort where there's a stop street, that a taxi can go beyond a stop street, beyond another road into the embankment and plunge into the railway lines.

''It is really a very big mystery which is why we want the forensic people to come and determine what the main cause of that accident could have been,'' he said.

See photos below showing the extent of the damage to the vehicle.

(Photos: Khatija Nxedlana)