A Grens Hoërskool teenager and a child died, and 14 people, most of them schoolboy cricketers aged 15 to 17, were injured in a smash on the R72 near Kidds Beach at 2pm yesterday.
One schoolboy was airlifted to hospital and others rushed there in ambulances during a major response of emergency services and other authorities.
By last night, eight schoolboys were still in hospital.
Traffic authorities said the driver of a small sedan, which turned in front of the school minibus, had been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.
The minibus, which was driven by a teacher, was carrying 13 first-team cricket players who were returning from playing in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, chairman of the Grens school governing body Garth Cerff said.
After being smashed into by the sedan, the Quantum minibus careened off the R72 through a road barrier and down an embankment for a few metres before colliding side-on with a gum tree.
This was according to officials, school leaders and Dispatch reporters on the scene.
At 3.30pm the sedan wreck was still on the scene, where it had come to a standstill on the wrong side of the road.
The bus was lying at an angle on a slope, with the tree deeply imbedded midway along the passenger side, its roof and front crushed.
Soon after the crash, Cerff confirmed the death of the schoolboy, whose name had not yet been released by the school or any other authority.
Cerff said the injured teens had been playing cricket in Uitenhage.
By 5pm, Cerff was able to confirm that eight of the boys were still in East London hospitals, one them in a serious condition at Frere Hospital.
Three more were at Frere and four at Life St Dominic’s. Two had been discharged.
He said the parents of the dead boy had been informed. He said the school would make a decision today on how to assist the family.
He said the minibus driver, a schoolteacher, was “fine”.
Deputy director of traffic in the Eastern Cape Charles Bramwell said from the scene that the sedan coming from East London turned right to take the M25 to King William’s Town and crashed head-on into the minibus, which then veered off the road and hit the tree, killing the schoolboy on impact.
Bramwell said a child in the sedan, who was believed to be under the age of five, also died on impact.
The driver of the sedan was breathalysed on the scene, found to be “positive” and arrested for drunken driving.
The driver of the sedan, who was pointed out to the Dispatch by an official, was sitting in the back of a police van waiting to be taken to have his blood drawn at a medical facility.
Later, three family members of the dead girl, who were identified by villagers, were seen getting into the police van along with the driver.
Emergency personnel said the child who died in the sedan, had been holding a piglet, which survived but fled into the bushes.
There were police, fire and rescue and emergency services, traffic officials, 10 ambulances and an air chopper on the scene.
Amid the broken glass and blood was a single slip-slop.
Schoolboy, girl die in R72 crash
One schoolboy was airlifted to hospital and others rushed there in ambulances during a major response of emergency services and other authorities.
By last night, eight schoolboys were still in hospital.
Traffic authorities said the driver of a small sedan, which turned in front of the school minibus, had been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.
The minibus, which was driven by a teacher, was carrying 13 first-team cricket players who were returning from playing in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, chairman of the Grens school governing body Garth Cerff said.
After being smashed into by the sedan, the Quantum minibus careened off the R72 through a road barrier and down an embankment for a few metres before colliding side-on with a gum tree.
This was according to officials, school leaders and Dispatch reporters on the scene.
At 3.30pm the sedan wreck was still on the scene, where it had come to a standstill on the wrong side of the road.
The bus was lying at an angle on a slope, with the tree deeply imbedded midway along the passenger side, its roof and front crushed.
Soon after the crash, Cerff confirmed the death of the schoolboy, whose name had not yet been released by the school or any other authority.
Cerff said the injured teens had been playing cricket in Uitenhage.
By 5pm, Cerff was able to confirm that eight of the boys were still in East London hospitals, one them in a serious condition at Frere Hospital.
Three more were at Frere and four at Life St Dominic’s. Two had been discharged.
He said the parents of the dead boy had been informed. He said the school would make a decision today on how to assist the family.
He said the minibus driver, a schoolteacher, was “fine”.
Deputy director of traffic in the Eastern Cape Charles Bramwell said from the scene that the sedan coming from East London turned right to take the M25 to King William’s Town and crashed head-on into the minibus, which then veered off the road and hit the tree, killing the schoolboy on impact.
Bramwell said a child in the sedan, who was believed to be under the age of five, also died on impact.
The driver of the sedan was breathalysed on the scene, found to be “positive” and arrested for drunken driving.
The driver of the sedan, who was pointed out to the Dispatch by an official, was sitting in the back of a police van waiting to be taken to have his blood drawn at a medical facility.
Later, three family members of the dead girl, who were identified by villagers, were seen getting into the police van along with the driver.
Emergency personnel said the child who died in the sedan, had been holding a piglet, which survived but fled into the bushes.
There were police, fire and rescue and emergency services, traffic officials, 10 ambulances and an air chopper on the scene.
Amid the broken glass and blood was a single slip-slop.
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