Everything went black - Mom
2006-02-08 08:48
Malmesbury - Around 50 pupils screamed and fell over each other when their school bus overturned outside Malmesbury. Two fellow pupils died in the accident.
Several pupils of the Anne Pienaar Memorial School outside Malmesbury were injured a few metres from the home of one of the pupils. The injured children and the bus driver were taken to hospitals in town and in Paarl.
"A hell of a dust cloud" hung over the wreck of the bus after it apparently had hit a sand bank, said the parent of one of the children, Dina Hendriks. The children were on their way from school to their homes on farms in the district when the accident took place on the farm Granaatfontein about 14:00.
Michaela van Rooyen, 7, a Grade 2-pupil, and Estelle van Wyk, 13, who was in Grade 5, apparently died on impact.
Michaela's stepsister, Abigail Hendriks, 8, Dina Hendriks's daughter, had to be cut from the wreck. She was still in Paarl Hospital with leg injuries.
A shocked parent alleged that the bus driver had been driving too fast. The brakes apparently failed, and the bus hit a sand bank and overturned.
Michael Samson, 40, the bus driver, said the brakes were still working as he went up the hill, but on the decline there was "nothing". He had to choose between a clump of trees on the riverbank, or the sand bank, and he decided the sand bank would be the better option.
More than 18 pupils were taken to Swartland Hospital where they were treated for less serious injuries.
The accident took place a few metres from Abigail's home and right in front of her mother's eyes. "I was standing there when I suddenly saw a hell of a cloud of dust. I ran to the gate," she said.
"I can't describe what happened then. It felt as if I was going to collapse when they told me my child had been injured. Everything went black."
Abigail was trapped between two seats. Later she said from her hospital bed that the children in the front of the bus just prior to the accident screamed and made a lot of noise, and with the impact fell on top of each other.
"All of them got out of the bus immediately. Only I was left behind. I could see Essie (Estelle), her face was covered in blood," she said. She said she didn't know Estelle was dead.
Cameron Dugmore, provincial education minister, was shocked about the accident that took place barely five months after three pupils and a bus driver had died in a gruesome accident in Kloofnek Road.
Dugmore conveyed his condolences to the school and families. Education department officials were on scene to support the pupils and their families.
Dugmore said he would, when revising the pupil transport scheme, pay special attention to stricter safety measures. The department did not want to comment.
Captain Elliot Sinyangana said police were investigating a charge of culpable homicide and reckless and negligent driving.