A bus crash in South Africa’s northern province of Limpopo resulted in 45 deaths and one critical harm, South Africa’s Division of Transport mentioned on Thursday.
The driving force misplaced management and collided with obstacles on a bridge close to Mamatlakala, inflicting the bus to go over the bridge and hit the bottom, catching fireplace, in response to a press release by the transport division.
The bus was taking Easter pilgrims from Botswana, a landlocked nation in southern Africa, to Moria, a city in Limpopo, it added.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa despatched his condolences to Botswana and pledged help to the nation, his workplace mentioned in a press release.
Solely an eight-year-old little one survived the crash and was receiving medical consideration at a close-by hospital, Limpopo’s transport division mentioned in a separate assertion.
Some our bodies had been burned past recognition whereas others had been trapped contained in the particles or scattered on the scene, the provincial division mentioned.
“It’s alleged that the driving force misplaced management, colliding with obstacles on the bridge inflicting the bus to go over the bridge and hitting the bottom, the place it caught fireplace,” the assertion mentioned.
The bus had a Botswana licence plate, native authorities mentioned, however the nationalities of the passengers had been nonetheless being checked.
Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga went to the scene of the crash and promised a full inquiry can be held into its trigger.
Whereas South Africa has one of many African continent’s most developed highway networks, it additionally suffers from one of many worst security information.
Simply a number of hours earlier than the crash, Ramaphosa appealed to South Africans to take care when travelling in the course of the Easter week.
“Let’s do our greatest to make this a protected Easter. Easter doesn’t should be a time the place we sit again and wait to see statistics on tragedy or accidents on our roads,” the president mentioned in a press release.
The bus fell from a serious bridge linking two hillsides close to Mmamatlakala in Limpopo province, round 300km (190 miles) north of Johannesburg.
