Speeding bus seen flying off bridge

19 bodies lay side by side at the scene of the horific bus accident which happened early yesterday morning on the R59 highway off ramp near Meyerton. Picture: Antoine de Ras, 25/06/2012

19 bodies lay side by side at the scene of the horific bus accident which happened early yesterday morning on the R59 highway off ramp near Meyerton. Picture: Antoine de Ras, 25/06/2012

Published Jun 26, 2012

Share

Nineteen bodies covered in blue body bags lay side by side on the pavement. On each bag hung a small white tag with a number.

Body number four was the driver of the orange Putco bus which overturned over a bridge after he lost control of the bus.

The bus had been travelling on the R551 on Verwoerd Road on Monday morning.

“The accident happened at 7.50am, according to a police officer who had been driving on the R59. He saw the bus veer from the road and fly off the bridge,” said Captain Shado Mashobane, spokesman for the Vereeniging police cluster.

Fifty-three people, who were seriously injured, were taken to hospitals in Sebokeng and Kopanong.

Two were airlifted to Chris Hani-Baragwanath Academic Hospital.

The 19 dead were 13 women and six men, none of whom had been identified at the time of going to press.

The first injured person was taken out of the bus at 8.15am.

By 11.58am, emergency workers were going around the bus to fit thick tight ropes around it for the bus to be lifted to pull out the remaining bodies.

By 12.25pm, the bus was upright as more emergency workers searched the murky stream water. At 12.27pm, a woman’s body was pulled from the water.

Her body, dressed in khaki pants and a pink scarf, was put on a stretcher and lifted to the ground above the stream. The same was done with the bodies of two men and a woman who had been floating face down on the water.

These bodies, too, were pulled out soon thereafter.

The last body was drawn out by 12.38pm.

At 12.41pm, the bus was lifted by a tow truck slowly on to the road.

“The cause of the accident is unknown, but it seems the bus had been speeding. A case of culpable homicide will be opened as investigations into the cause of the accident continue,” Mashobane said.

Several ambulances, two fire trucks and two vehicles from the forensic pathology services department were at the cordoned-off scene as teams of police and emergency workers worked until 3pm.

The Community Safety MEC’s spokesman, Thapelo Moilo, lamented the tragic loss of life and said a full investigation on the condition of the bus would be under way soon.

“People must stick to the speed limits.

“If the investigation reveals bus defects, we’ll go to their depots (Putco) and take out all their unroadworthy vehicles,” he said.

[email protected]

RECENT ACCIDENTS

* On March 27, Soweto couple Michael, 44, and Mathabiso, 33, Motswiri, were killed when a Putco bus ploughed into their Bramfischerville home while they slept in the early hours of the day.

* On March 27, Soweto couple Michael, 44, and Mathabiso, 33, Motswiri, were killed when a Putco bus ploughed into their Bramfischerville home while they slept in the early hours of the day.

The bus first crashed into a car at a four-way stop and came to a halt when it smashed into the house. Forty-eight passengers were taken to hospital, three in a critical condition.

Gauteng Traffic Department spokesman Obed Sibasa said the bus was going so fast that skid marks extended for 50m. Relatives dug through the rubble with their bare hands to reach the couple.

* On May 10, also in Soweto, a 10-year-old boy was knocked down and killed by a Putco bus as he tried to cross a road instead of using the pedestrian bridge.

* On Sunday, four people were killed, three of them ANC Youth League members from the Thabo Mafutsanyana region, when their bus overturned in Bethlehem, Free State. Fifty-eight passengers were injured. It’s believed strong winds might have caused the accident.

* On Monday morning, a bus was involved in a collision with a truck and a Toyota Tazz on the N1 near the Maraisburg road offramp. – Nontobeko Mtshali

The Star

Related Topics: