Scenes of grief, shock and one hero speaks

Families of the Centane bus disaster struggled on Tuesday to accept that their beloved mothers, sisters brothers and daughters had gone forever.

A cloud hung above the villages of Cebe and Lusizi, home for most of the dead passengers.

Adding to the trauma was the news yesterday that a critically wounded three-year-old boy — the first crash victim airlifted from the wreckage scene — had died in Frere Hospital.

On Tuesday morning social development social workers, other officials and church leaders were on hand to comfort and counsel the grieving families.

A ceremony was held at the Butterworth town hall before the families took the dreadful journey to identify the bodies and sign documents to give permission for postmortems to be conducted.

Distraught Lungile Susela, who had travelled from King William’s Town to identify the body of her sister, Hombakazi Nomzi Susela, said: "I am devastated that my sister died in this horrific accident.

"I think that the government, and also the bus company, should take responsibility for this.

"This is a disaster.''

Mavis Tolom-Nquma, who  lost her older sister, Novusile Komani, said: "This is so very traumatic it has left us all confused. She was such a sweet soul — a pillar of us all at home.

"We had hoped she was not among those who died, but we found her among the dead,'' Tolom-Nquma  said.

Mncedisi Papa cried out in shock and disbelief when he saw the body of his mother, Nothobile Papa.

''I could not believe this could be my mother who is dead —  no, it cannot be at all.

"The last time I saw my mother was early in the morning on Monday, when I accompanied her to the bus,” Papa said.

"She was full of life and there was no indication that I would never seen her alive again.

"This is very devastating.

''Now there are 64 people who have died on the roads of Centane.

"The first [crash] killed 35 people and now this one has killed 29.

"How many more must die before these roads are fixed?''

The health department’s acting director for forensic pathology services, Dr Mtandeki Xamlashe, had his hands full on Tuesday morning when  the body identification process turned chaotic, with some of the families wanting to enter the small offices in large numbers.

Some families comprised 10 members.

Xamlashe said: ''Their anger is understandable; they have just lost their loved one in an horrific accident.

"They are still distraught and traumatised. All they want is to see the body of their relatives.''

It took more than 30 minutes for Xamlashe and his team to bring order to the process of calling the families in, and organising them to view the bodies and sign the necessary documents.

Nxaxho villager Jackson Matroos, 67, was hailed as one of the village heroes.

He took several trips with other rescue personnel to bring injured people from near the wreckage of the bus back up the treacherous hill, and rushed several to hospital.

Older people had been directing younger villlagers to climb down the hill, but Matroos joined the youngsters.

''In my heart all I wanted was to save as many lives as we could,” he said.

"I wish we could have saved all the lives in the bus, but unfortunately only God decides. It is a pity that we have lost 29,'' Matroos added.

He and Nkosi Phathuxolo Tyali called on the government to fix the road and tar the 25km section between the N2 near Butterworth and Tafalofefe Hospital.

The families of the deceased and traditional leaders have called for a cleansing ceremony to be conducted at the crash site.

Some of the bodies are being kept in Butterworth and others in East London.

Several funeral parlours have come forward to assist, and leaders of the SA Council of Churches in the province, as well as regional leaders, are set to visit the bereaved families.

lulamilef@dispatch.co.za