Bus accident: 63 dead

2003-05-01 14:05

Bethlehem - At least 63 people travelling to a May Day rally in the eastern Free State have been confirmed dead after the bus they were travelling in plunged into the Southpoort dam, the ANC said on Thursday.

"We have just come from the scene now, where they have removed the bus. There are 10 survivors in the Bethlehem hospital and 63 confirmed dead, but this could be more," said ANC provincial chairperson Ace Magashule.

He said most of the dead were members of the South African Municipal Workers' Union, two were National Education and Allied Workers Union members and at least one was a Communication Workers Union member.

"We have just informed the rally at Qwa Qwa stadium. Everybody is saddened by the deaths and the mood is dampened, but the message from the comrades in hospital is that the struggle goes on," he said.

Magashule said two buses were travelling from Kimberley in the Northern Cape to the rally in the Free State when both busses stopped for refreshments at Bethlehem.

One of the buses apparently took a wrong turn and the bus plunged directly into the dam, with an estimated 80 people on board.

"(Congress of SA Trade Unions) president Willie Madisha who was scheduled to speak at the stadium with the ANC's Kgalame Mothlante and the SACP's Blade Nzimande, went to the scene of the accident and will arrive at the stadium later," Magashule said.

He said the accident happended at around 05:00 on Thursday and that the government would now take charge because it was a "disaster".

- SAPA