Bus accident: At least 65 dead
2003-05-01 15:41
Bethlehem - At least 65 people were killed when a bus plunged into a reservoir in the central Free State on Thursday morning, the transport ministry confirmed.
"We've got a team at the accident scene that is reporting to us. The last number they gave us was between 65 and 70 bodies," transport spokesperson Ndivhuwo Mabaya told AFP.
"We are not quite sure how many people were on the bus. Initial reports said around 80 but we are waiting for a final report from our team later today."
Ten survivors, some who had managed to crawl onto the roof of the bus as it lay submerged in the reservoir's waters, were taken to hospital.
The bus was transporting members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), from the Northern Cape to attend a May Day rally in Qwa Qwa, near Bethlehem.
It appeared that the bus driver got lost and erred onto a gravel road leading straight into a reservoir at the Saulspoort dam outside Bethlehem, about 400km south of Johannesburg.
"The driver lost his direction while he was in Bethlehem and followed a gravel road that lead to the dam," Sesing said.
Cosatu secretary-general Zwelinzima Vavi expressed shock at the accident. The chairperson of the 1.7 million-strong trade union, Willy Madisha, was on his way to the scene.
"It is a devastating blow to Cosatu and its entire membership... We will call a week of mourning. We are simply left speechless," Vavi said on SABC radio news.
South African President Thabo Mbeki observed a minute's silence and paid tribute to the victims at a May Day rally in Johannesburg, also attended by acting Transport Minister Jeff Radebe.
"As an individual I pray for them, as a nation we continue to share our sympathy and sadness in this trying time," Radebe said.
10 000 people killed in road accidents every year
The bus crash is one of the worst in South Africa where between 9 000 and 10 000 people are killed in road accidents every year.
In the mid-1980s, more than 40 children were killed when a school bus plunged into the Westdene dam in Johannesburg. In 1999, a coach carrying British tourists crashed in Mpumalanga province, causing 27 deaths.
A large number of road accidents involve buses and minibus taxis, whose drivers are notorious for dangerous habits.
On Wednesday, 13 people - most of them children - were killed on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast when two minibus taxis collided after the drivers played a "common game" where they "pretend to crash into each other at the last minute before returning to their lanes", transport spokesperson Thabang Chiloane said.