Pretoria bus crash injures 87
2008-05-14 12:04
Pretoria - A woman has died and 87 bus passengers injured when a bus overturned early on Wednesday morning in Hatfield, Pretoria, metro police said.
Police are investigating the cause of the crash but Tshwane emergency services spokesperson, Johan Pieterse, said it looked like the bus driver lost control of the vehicle as it took an offramp into the city centre, at about 06:00.
"It overturned and slid into a tree," said Pieterse. A woman sitting at the back of the bus was killed and two others critically injured. Forty-two other passengers were seriously injured and 43 slightly wounded.
The Starline bus was bringing commuters from Hammanskraal, about 40km north of Pretoria, to the city centre.
The bus was filled to capacity when the accident happened, at the N1/N4 offramp.
Traffic was severely affected as emergency services cordoned off the accident, leaving only one lane open. Twelve of the city's ambulances rushed to the scene along with ten private ambulances from Netcare 911 and ER24, amongst others.
Passengers were taken to Pretoria Academic Hospital and Tshwane District Hospital.
The SAPS accident unit are investigating the accident further. No other vehicles were damaged.