Pretoria – Families of pupils and two adults burnt beyond recognition in the fiery taxi crash outside Bronkhorstspruit on Friday will have to wait for up to a week to identity their loved ones.
The Verena families and community learnt of this during a public meeting on Sunday in the aftermath of the tragedy.
The meeting was addressed by a high-level team of government officials, among them Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, who told them the DNA results would only be available after a week. Lesufi was accompanied by officials from Mpumalanga.
Both Mpumalanga and Gauteng authorities vowed to work together to assist the 15 families who lost loved ones in the accident.
The taxi transporting the pupils of two schools smashed into a truck as it was taking them home.
The taxi burst into flames. Police and paramedics only managed to rescue seven occupants. The accident happened on the R25 Groblersdal Road.
Police said the taxi driver, who also died, could have miscalculated his speed and the distance and tried to beat the truck to a turn-off.
Lesufi said all the bodies were accounted for and were at the state mortuary.
He said families needed to do DNA tests in order for funeral arrangements to be made. “We need to attend to the issue of DNA tests because without them it will be very difficult to arrange a funeral.”
Lesufi said they received a report that out of the 20 bodies, only one body could be identified while 19 had to go through the DNA process.
“From the report we have received, at most this process will last for a week and only after that can we get results and be in a position to deal with other issues,” he said.
He pleaded with the families to co-operate with officials dealing with the DNA tests and produce whatever would be needed from them.
“We will also support the pupils who were injured. We are committing ourselves as government to giving all the relevant support that is needed,” Lesufi said.
The support included medical costs, counselling services and support in terms of school work.
Owing to school books and uniforms being burnt, the provincial governments have committed to immediately assist so that pupils could continue with their studies.
“As part of support, tomorrow (today) we will visit both schools in Sokhulumi village, announce the news at assembly in the morning and offer counselling for all pupils,” he said.
A committee to look into the immediate needs of all families has been set up.
Lesufi said the committee would co-ordinate all matters related to both the funeral and memorial services, receive reports from authorities and brief families on progress.
He said the funeral committee would decide on a date(s) after it had consulted with all families.
“They will be the ones to tell us whether this will be a mass funeral or if each family will have their own, but that will only happen after they have consulted with all family members,” he said.
The collaboration between the two provincial governments was because the pupils attended schools in Gauteng but lived in Mpumalanga.
Post-traumatic counselling services have already been given to 13 families and others were still to receive counselling.
Of the seven survivors, four pupils were taken to KwaMhlanga Hospital, two to Life Cosmos Hospital and one to Life Wilgers Hospital in Pretoria.