Five people including four children have been killed in an accident on the N1 highway between Worcester and Du Doorns in the Boland. Provincial Traffic spokesperson Xenophone Wentzel says a bakkie transporting 11 people collided with a truck.
Emergency Services say seven people were taken to Worcester provincial hospital for treatment. Two men sustained serious injuries.Wentzel says the N1 has been closed to traffic. “Metro emergency services as well as the South African Police Services and provincial traffic are still on the scene. The alternative route for people travelling on the N1 in the direction of Laignsburg is via Ceres to Wolsely and then back on the N1 again,” says Wentzel.
In the Eastern Cape, four people have been killed and several injured in a bus accident at Ngcobo. Traffic authorities say the accident happened after the bus missed a curve and crashed into a tavern. Reports say a number of patrons are trapped under the bus. Traffic authorities say it was transporting shoppers from Rustenburg in the North West to Mthatha. Rescue services are at the scene of the accident.
In Limpopo, three people died in three separate accidents in the past 24 hours. According to the Limpopo Traffic Control Centre, two pedestrians were killed in two separate accidents in the Levubu area. In another accident, one person was killed and 14 injured when a taxi collided head-on with a car at Burgersdorp in the Maake area of Limpopo. Speeding is suspected to be the cause of the accident.
In the Southern Cape at George, one person was killed in an accident, when the driver of the vehicle lost control and hit a barrier near the bridge on the N2 highway. Police spokesperson Malcolm Pojie says the driver has been arrested and taken to hospital for blood samples. He was driving from Knysna to Mosselbay. A case of culpable homicide is being investigated.
In the Eastern Cape, a 55-year-old man has died and three people were seriously injured when the car they were travelling in overturned near Tarkastad in the Eastern Cape. Police say a burst tyre is believed to have caused the accident. Another two people sustained minor injuries. The seriously injured were taken to a hospital in Queenstown.
EC bus accident victims identified
Meanwhile, the bodies of eight people who died in yesterday’s bus accident near Ngcobo in the Eastern Cape have been identified. A bus travelling from Cape Town to Ngcobo collided head-on with a truck on a curve.
Chairperson of the Ngcobo Long Distance Association Zamelekhaya Loqo says his organization has provided the victims families with transport to Butterworth state mortuary to identify the bodies. Loqo says all the victims are from Ngcobo villages.