8-year-old bus crash survivor in good hands, says Limpopo health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba

The eight-year-old girl who was the only passenger known to survive the tragic bus accident that claimed 45 lives on Thursday in Limpopo is in safe hands.

This is according to Limpopo health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba, who visited the girl at an undisclosed hospital.

“I attended the scene of the accident, but now our focus as the health department is on the brave little survivor. She is in safe hands in a hospital with experts looking after her,” Ramathuba said on Friday.

“After the accident she was immediately taken to the closest hospital to be stabilised, as the law requires. We have now moved her to a larger hospital with all the needed facilities and staff.

“On recommendations from our psych people, I cannot divulge much more about the little girl or her condition.”

Ramathuba could not comment on whether the girl's parents had been with her on the bus.

“She is starting to ask questions, but those questions I cannot answer in the public sphere. For now we are focused on her physical and mental recovery.”

The bus, which reportedly drove off the Mmamatlakala Bridge on the R518 between Marken and Mokopane in the Waterberg district on Thursday, is thought to have carried 46 people, including the driver.

“At the moment we have the figure of 45 deceased, but even that is not confirmed yet. The owner of the bus company supplied that number to the department of transport and from there it came to us,” Ramathuba said.

“We have 34 body bags at the moment, but that does not mean 34 bodies. Some bags may contain the remains of more than one person. It is impossible to tell at the moment. Out of the bodies we recovered, only nine were identifiable. The others were burnt beyond recognition.”

They are now waiting for the postmortems, she said. “Once that is done, we will look at our numbers again and if they don't tally [up] we will start over. We are asking for the needed space to finish our work while SAPS and the transport department finish their investigations.”

Ramathuba was attending an Easter prayer meeting when she was notified of the accident.

“It is terrible to rush from prayer to death and especially on this of all weekends. Our prayers are with the families of the deceased and the eight-year-old survivor.”

National police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said the Interpol National Central Bureau (NCB) confirmed all passengers who died in the crash and the sole survivor were Botswana citizens.

Mathe said police are investigating a case of culpable homicide and the local Interpol branch was in contact with counterparts in Gaborone, Botswana.

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