{"id":312995,"date":"2017-04-22T11:27:28","date_gmt":"2017-04-22T11:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=312995"},"modified":"2017-04-22T11:27:28","modified_gmt":"2017-04-22T11:27:28","slug":"south-africa-bus-crash-kills-at-least-19-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/04\/south-africa-bus-crash-kills-at-least-19-children\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa bus crash ‘kills at least 19 children’"},"content":{"rendered":"
At least 19 children have been killed in a minibus crash near the South African capital, Pretoria, emergency services and officials say.<\/p>\n
The children died after the vehicle burst into flames following a collision with a truck just north of the capital.<\/p>\n
There were understood to be both primary and secondary school-aged children on board.<\/p>\n
Panyaza Lesufi, the official responsible for education in Gauteng province, said it was a “dark day”.<\/p>\n
The minibus collided with a truck on the single carriageway R25, between Verena in Mpumalanga and Bronkhorstspruit in Gauteng, having left from Mahlenga High.<\/p>\n
The emergency services rescued seven children before the bus burst into flames.<\/p>\n
“It is believed the driver of minibus underestimated the speed of the truck and collided with him whilst turning,” the Gauteng Education Department said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Police later said the bus driver was also killed in the accident, while the driver of the truck survived.<\/p>\n
Pictures show the minibus on its side, entirely burnt out.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In a statement, emergency medical service ER24 described arriving at the scene, where firefighters were tackling the flames. A number of children had already been pulled out by “members of the community”, the statement said.<\/p>\n
“Once the flames had been extinguished, paramedics found that approximately 13 children [were] lying trapped inside the vehicle. Unfortunately, nothing could be done for the children and they were declared dead on the scene,” the statement added.<\/p>\n
The African National Congress (ANC) later said that it was “gravely saddened” by the deaths of the school pupils following the “heart-breaking accident” on Friday.<\/p>\n
“It is a sad day for South Africa,” the statement said, adding that the ANC “extends its deepest condolences to the bereaved families”.<\/p>\n
ER24 and the Gauteng Education Department had earlier reported that a total of 20 people had been killed, with the education department adding that two of the dead were adults.<\/p>\n
“This is a huge loss and we’re deeply pained by the tragic news,” the education department tweeted.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
South Africa has some of the deadliest roads in the world. According to the country’s Road Traffic Management Corporation, there were 13,673 deaths in the 12 months from October 2015 – which equates to more than 37 people dying every day.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At least 19 children have been killed in a minibus crash near the South African capital, Pretoria, emergency services and officials say. The children died after the vehicle burst into flames following a collision with a truck just north of the capital. There were understood to be both primary and secondary school-aged children on board. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":312996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[6426,6427,481,6428],"yoast_head":"\n