At least 45 people were killed when a bus bringing worshippers from Botswana to a church meeting in South Africa over Easter weekend crashed off a bridge on a mountain pass on Thursday and caught fire as it struck the rocky ground below, according to police. An 8-year-old child who was receiving medical attention for significant injuries was the only survivor.
The bus swerved off the Mmamatlakala bridge in northern South Africa, according to the provincial administration of Limpopo, and dropped 50 meters (164 feet) into a ravine before catching fire.
According to the regional authorities, search efforts were still underway, but many of the remains had been thrown from the bus and were trapped inside after being charred beyond recognition.
The collision occurred close to the town of Mokopane, which is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the South African capital, Pretoria.
Smoke emerged from the burned and twisted wreck beneath the concrete bridge hours after the collision. The bus crashed into the barriers by the side of the bridge and then over the edge, according to the authorities, who claimed it looked like the driver lost control. Among the dead was the driver.
The victims, according to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, appeared to be all from Botswana. They were traveling to the town of Moria in Limpopo for a well-known Easter weekend pilgrimage that draws hundreds of thousands of Zion Christian Church adherents from South Africa and neighboring nations.
Ramaphosa had called President Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana to express his sympathies and assure him that the South African government would extend all possible assistance, according to a statement from Ramaphosa’s office.
The bus, according to provincial authorities, carried a Botswana license plate.
After learning of the “devastating news,” South African Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga, who was in the province of Limpopo for a road safety campaign, altered his plans to visit the crash scene, according to the national Department of Transport. She conveyed her sympathies to the families of the victims and stated that an inquiry was being conducted to determine what caused the tragedy.
Given that Easter is a very busy and risky time of year for driving, the South African government frequently advises drivers to exercise caution during this period. Around 200 people lost their lives in car accidents throughout the course of last year’s Easter weekend.
The South African government asked passengers to exercise additional caution just one day prior to the bus accident because of the expected high volumes traveling by road to Moria.
The Zion Christian Church has its headquarters in Moria, and this year is the first time its Easter pilgrimage is set to go ahead since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
(AP)
