Crash: Mbeki sends condolences

2003-05-01 19:34

Bethlehem - At least 63 people were confirmed dead on Thursday and 10 others were slightly injured when the bus in which they were travelling plunged into an eastern Free State dam, government officials said.

It was unclear how many people were on board the bus when it crashed into the Saulspoort dam near Bethlehem on Thursday morning, Free State police spokesperson Sam Sesing said.

However, the final death toll could rise as about 80 people were reportedly on the bus when the accident happened. The vehicle was travelling from Kimberley to a Workers' Day rally at Phuthaditjaba, Qwa Qwa.

The survivors escaped through the windows, as the door was kept closed by the weight of the water, Sesing said.

President Thabo Mbeki, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana and Acting Transport Minister Jeff Radebe were among many people who sent their condolences to the families of the dead, and injured passengers.

"The nation is in deep mourning as we hear of the horrific tragedy that has befallen members of Cosatu (the Congress of SA Trade Unions).

"Our thoughts, as the nation, are with all who suffered this grievous, ghastly blow," Mbeki said in a statement.

"We shall leave no stone unturned in getting to the bottom of the calamity."

Mbeki, who addressed a May Day rally in Johannesburg, observed a minute of silence in memory of the dead.

Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said the union federation was "devastated".

"The Congress of South African Trade Unions is devastated by the tragic accident near Bethlehem in the Free State, in which more than 60 workers, mainly members of the SA Municipal Workers' Union, lost their lives."

"On behalf of all its affiliates and members, Cosatu sends its deepest condolences to the families and comrades of those whose lives have been so tragically shortened. We send our best wishes to the ten survivors for a speedy and full recovery."

Cosatu also announced official mourning, starting on Thursday "until the funerals have taken place".

Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon extended his condolences to the families of the many victims during a Workers' Day rally in the North West and also telephoned Cosatu's general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi to convey a personal message expressing his shock at the tragic event.

The fully loaded bus was carrying about 90 Cosatu members on their way to a Workers' Day rally in Qwa Qwa early in the morning when the driver apparently lost his bearings in the dark, took a wrong turn and drove down a gravel road, eventually plunging the bus into the dam.

Emergency workers and police who arrived at the scene shortly after the accident - which occurred about 05:00 - took 10 people to hospital who had swum to safety.

At that stage only five bodies had been retrieved from the submerged bus, witnesses said.

Bethlehem emergency control officer Theuns Kruger said the bus had entered the dam at the bottom of a slope normally used to launch boats.

He said emergency workers battled for hours before they were able to pull the bus, still containing many of the drowned victims, out of the dam.

A hospital spokesperson confirmed later that no other passengers from the bus, except for the 10 brought in for treatment early in the morning, had been brought to the hospital.

Free State African National Congress chairperson Ace Magashule said most of the dead were members of the SA Municipal Workers' Union. Two were National Education and Allied Workers Union members and at least one was a Communication Workers Union member.

Cosatu president Willie Madisha, who was scheduled to speak at the Qwa Qwa stadium with the ANC's Kgalame Mothlante and the SACP's Blade Nzimande, went to the scene of the accident before continuing on to the rally.

Magushule, who confirmed the deaths to Sapa, said national government would now take charge of the accident because it was a "disaster".

The Saulspoort accident is the third of its kind in 18 years.

In March 1985 42 schoolchildren died when a Johannesburg municipal double-decker bus carrying the children home jumped the pavement and sank in the Westdene dam in western Johannesburg.

In the mid-1990s a bus carrying some 90 forestry workers to work plunged into a dam near Lothair, near the Swaziland border, claiming 38 lives.

In response to Thursday's bus disaster the management of Peoples Bank announced it had established a relief fund into which it had donated R100 000 which was intended to assist the next of kin of those who died.

"Anyone wishing to make a donation to the fund could do so at any Peoples Bank from Friday. The banking details are: Workers' Day relief Fund; Account number: 2947000013," the bank said in a statement.

- SAPA