On a major road in the northern Limpopo region of South Africa, a tour bus and a cash-in-transit truck collided head-on, leaving 20 people dead and at least 60 more injured.
According to a statement released on Tuesday, February 14, by the regional transport department , police divers were searching in a river that runs along the highway “for people who might have been swept away”.
ER24, an emergency medical care organization whose paramedics were on the site, said the tour bus rolled from a bridge on the N1 highway into a river below after the collision.
“Three people were found deceased by the roadside and 16 down by the river – all were declared dead on arrival,” ER24 said in a statement.
“One patient, of the 69 passengers confirmed transported to hospital for various injuries, has since died,” it added.
It was unclear how many passengers the tour bus was carrying at the time.
Police were looking into the circumstances leading up to the accident, according to ER24.
Tidimalo Chuene, a spokesman for the regional transportation department, told reporters that although the cause of the accident is still being investigated, the region has seen heavt rainfall in recent days.
Author-Roberta Appiah
