Johannesburg – Five people have died following a bus accident in Limpopo, marking the second incident involving Zimbabwean cross-border buses within a week.
A bus travelling from Zimbabwe lost control and overturned, the province’s transport ministry said on Sunday.
Four men and one woman died.
The ministry said in a statement that it was “saddened with a second fatal bus accident, that happened in less than five days”, adding that “fatigue could possibly have been a cause” for the crash.
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“Scores of passengers have sustained injuries of varying degrees, in the process, and have been taken to hospitals,” the ministry said, offering condolences to the deceased’s families.
Earlier this week another bus travelling from Zimbabwe lost control and overturned in Limpopo, killing 10 people and injuring 35.
On Saturday at least 11 people were killed in a head-on collision in the country’s eastern KwaZulu-Natal province – leaving a sole male survivor.
In a separate Saturday incident in the same province at least six supporters of South Africa’s official opposition uMkhonto weSizwe were killed when their minibus crashed on the way to a celebratory event.
A cross-border bus, traveling from Johannesburg to Zimbabwe, overturned on the N1 north towards the Nyl Plaza outside Mokopane, Limpopo around 17h30 on Sunday.
Tragically, five people, consisting of one female and four males, lost their lives.
Many passengers sustained… pic.twitter.com/B1AS8KhefV
— MDN NEWS (@MDNnewss) September 1, 2024
South Africa has one of the most developed road networks on the continent but also one of the worst road safety records, in part due to reckless driving and non-roadworthy vehicles.
Limpopo’s local transport minister expressed concern over cross-border bus operators and “appealed to the bus companies to ensure that their drivers are ‘fit for purpose'”.
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Source: AFP
Picture: X/@jnrflacko
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