Forty-six bus and taxi passengers, including four children, died in two horrifying Eastern Cape crashes on Saturday.
The worst crash in the Eastern Cape was when 36 people were killed near Willowvale on Saturday morning when a bus is believed to have lost its brakes and gone over a cliff.
He said the bus, owned by AB350 which has a contract with the provincial government to service rural routes, had been taking shoppers from five villages to Willowvale.
The villages included Ngwane, Nqabarha, Mhlanga, KuBhadi, Nquma, Xonyeni and Nkelekethe.
It had been negotiating a windy slope on the dirt road when it suddenly veered off the road and “flew into a river”, Sidelo said.
He and his six passengers rushed to assist.
“The bus was lying on its right side. There was dust. People were screaming for help.”
Sidelo spent hours assisting emergency personnel trying to retrieve bodies trapped in the wreck.
“I am haunted by the bus driver. We could not help him. He screamed for help saying that he was dying.”
They prayed and watched him die.
Nine passengers suffered serious injuries and were rushed to Butterworth Hospital. Six critically injured commuters had to be airlifted to Frere Hospital.
Provincial health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo yesterday confirmed that one person had died a few hours after being admitted to hospital, taking the death toll to 36.
In the second Eastern Cape accident at 5am on Saturday, a Quantum taxi overturned on the R61 between Cradock and Graaff-Reinet.
Eastern Cape Arrive Alive spokesman Tshepo Machaea said seven people had been killed on impact and three died after admission to Cradock Hospital.
The premier, and three MECs – Weziwe Tikana (transport) Dr Pumza Dyantyi (health) and Fikile Xasa (cooperative governance and traditional affairs) – together with provincial police commissioner Celiwe Binta and AmaXhosa King Mpendulo Sigcawu visited the Willowvale crash scene yesterday.
The leaders addressed bereaved families at a prayer session at KuBadi village 5km from the crash spot where scores of bereaved family members sobbed as social workers tried to support them.
Masualle said the loss of the 36 victims of the bus crash and 10 from the taxi crash was felt by the province and across the country.
Thembela Mtyhida, 39, a security guard who lost her 28-year-old cousin, wept saying she had missed boarding the bus by a whisker.
“ I am devastated because I got my cousin a job just last month at this company and now he is dead.”
Kupelo said the driver’s body was only retrieved from the wreckage after a breakdown vehicle had been called to move the wreckage. He said emergency personnel had worked until 3.30pm until the last body was recovered.
Yesterday, Sigcawu complained about the poor condition of the roads and said many bereaved families were poor and could not afford to bury their loved ones.
Masualle told the mourners government would do all in its power to assist.
AB350 bus company chairman Simlindile Hintsa expressed condolences to the families saying it was the most tragic accident his company had ever experienced since it started seven years ago.
“I am asking myself how did it happen. So many people. My heart is bleeding.”
In Swaziland, the death toll of young women reed dancers who died in a truck smash on the way to the king’s royal residence on Friday ranged from 13 to 65.
Swaziland police claimed 11 girls aged 11 to 19 and two 25-year-old men died when their open truck smashed into a vehicle and was hit from behind by another on the Mbabane-Manzini Highway. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za / lulamilef@dispatch.co.za
Bus crash survivors’ ‘spared’
Three battered, bruised and stitched young builders who survived the Willovale district bus crash believe God spared them.
Speaking from their hospital beds in Butterworth yesterday, Mlulameli Nongwane, 36, Lunga Gogo, 30, and Mlungiseleli Nkuhlu, 27, could not recall how they escaped the mangled wreckage.
They boarded the bus shortly after 6am in KwaSongwevu village and were returning home to Ciko. The accident took place less than a kilometre from home.
“It is only through God’s grace that we are alive,” said Nongwane, a father of three.
Their friend and co-worker, Xolile Mngqetho, 36, died in the crash.
Nongwane, who sustained injuries to his chest, neck and face, said the bus was negotiating curves on the road in Nkelekethe when it started speeding up.
“People started standing up and when I saw that it was going out of control, I sat down in the passage and clutched onto my seat with my hands.”
Gogo, a married father of two, grabbed the seat in front of him, while Nkuhlu joined Nongwane on the floor. There were loud screams and a huge thud as the bus hit an embankment before it flew into the air and dived nose first into the river.
“Everything went blank. When I came around, I followed Nongwane out the window,” he said.
Nkuhlu could not remember how he got out.
Nongwane vowed he would never take another bus. — lulamilef@dispatch.co.za/ sikhon@dispatch.co.za
46 die in weekend road tragedies
The worst crash in the Eastern Cape was when 36 people were killed near Willowvale on Saturday morning when a bus is believed to have lost its brakes and gone over a cliff.
He said the bus, owned by AB350 which has a contract with the provincial government to service rural routes, had been taking shoppers from five villages to Willowvale.
The villages included Ngwane, Nqabarha, Mhlanga, KuBhadi, Nquma, Xonyeni and Nkelekethe.
It had been negotiating a windy slope on the dirt road when it suddenly veered off the road and “flew into a river”, Sidelo said.
He and his six passengers rushed to assist.
“The bus was lying on its right side. There was dust. People were screaming for help.”
Sidelo spent hours assisting emergency personnel trying to retrieve bodies trapped in the wreck.
“I am haunted by the bus driver. We could not help him. He screamed for help saying that he was dying.”
They prayed and watched him die.
Nine passengers suffered serious injuries and were rushed to Butterworth Hospital. Six critically injured commuters had to be airlifted to Frere Hospital.
Provincial health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo yesterday confirmed that one person had died a few hours after being admitted to hospital, taking the death toll to 36.
In the second Eastern Cape accident at 5am on Saturday, a Quantum taxi overturned on the R61 between Cradock and Graaff-Reinet.
Eastern Cape Arrive Alive spokesman Tshepo Machaea said seven people had been killed on impact and three died after admission to Cradock Hospital.
The premier, and three MECs – Weziwe Tikana (transport) Dr Pumza Dyantyi (health) and Fikile Xasa (cooperative governance and traditional affairs) – together with provincial police commissioner Celiwe Binta and AmaXhosa King Mpendulo Sigcawu visited the Willowvale crash scene yesterday.
The leaders addressed bereaved families at a prayer session at KuBadi village 5km from the crash spot where scores of bereaved family members sobbed as social workers tried to support them.
Masualle said the loss of the 36 victims of the bus crash and 10 from the taxi crash was felt by the province and across the country.
Thembela Mtyhida, 39, a security guard who lost her 28-year-old cousin, wept saying she had missed boarding the bus by a whisker.
“ I am devastated because I got my cousin a job just last month at this company and now he is dead.”
Kupelo said the driver’s body was only retrieved from the wreckage after a breakdown vehicle had been called to move the wreckage. He said emergency personnel had worked until 3.30pm until the last body was recovered.
Yesterday, Sigcawu complained about the poor condition of the roads and said many bereaved families were poor and could not afford to bury their loved ones.
Masualle told the mourners government would do all in its power to assist.
AB350 bus company chairman Simlindile Hintsa expressed condolences to the families saying it was the most tragic accident his company had ever experienced since it started seven years ago.
“I am asking myself how did it happen. So many people. My heart is bleeding.”
In Swaziland, the death toll of young women reed dancers who died in a truck smash on the way to the king’s royal residence on Friday ranged from 13 to 65.
Swaziland police claimed 11 girls aged 11 to 19 and two 25-year-old men died when their open truck smashed into a vehicle and was hit from behind by another on the Mbabane-Manzini Highway. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za / lulamilef@dispatch.co.za
Bus crash survivors’ ‘spared’
Three battered, bruised and stitched young builders who survived the Willovale district bus crash believe God spared them.
Speaking from their hospital beds in Butterworth yesterday, Mlulameli Nongwane, 36, Lunga Gogo, 30, and Mlungiseleli Nkuhlu, 27, could not recall how they escaped the mangled wreckage.
They boarded the bus shortly after 6am in KwaSongwevu village and were returning home to Ciko. The accident took place less than a kilometre from home.
“It is only through God’s grace that we are alive,” said Nongwane, a father of three.
Their friend and co-worker, Xolile Mngqetho, 36, died in the crash.
Nongwane, who sustained injuries to his chest, neck and face, said the bus was negotiating curves on the road in Nkelekethe when it started speeding up.
“People started standing up and when I saw that it was going out of control, I sat down in the passage and clutched onto my seat with my hands.”
Gogo, a married father of two, grabbed the seat in front of him, while Nkuhlu joined Nongwane on the floor. There were loud screams and a huge thud as the bus hit an embankment before it flew into the air and dived nose first into the river.
“Everything went blank. When I came around, I followed Nongwane out the window,” he said.
Nkuhlu could not remember how he got out.
Nongwane vowed he would never take another bus. — lulamilef@dispatch.co.za/ sikhon@dispatch.co.za
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