Four pupils killed in bus plunge

CARNAGE: The police, paramedics and firemen worked tirelessly after a bus plunged over a cliff in Inanda. Picture: Chris Botha, Netcare 911

CARNAGE: The police, paramedics and firemen worked tirelessly after a bus plunged over a cliff in Inanda. Picture: Chris Botha, Netcare 911

Published Sep 1, 2012

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Durban - Four school children were killed and scores were seriously injured when their bus plunged 150m down a cliff in Inanda on Friday afternoon.

Netcare 911 spokesman Chris Botha said four pupils were killed, 14 were critically injured, 17 were seriously injured, and 30 suffered minor injuries in the accident which happened at around 1pm.

“It was a bus of 65 school children who had come from Umzinto Secondary School and were on their way to Mosabela School to play sport there. The bus driver lost control on the gravel road and went over the cliff,” Botha said.

“Netcare 911 and the provincial paramedics as well as the fire services and police arrived at the scene and were faced with absolute carnage,” Botha said.

He said the passengers were ejected from the bus as it rolled down the cliff, and that injured people and stuffed toys lay scattered along the side of the mountain.

He said the four children that died, along with the injured, were aged between 15 and 17.

Two medical helicopters were used to fly some of the critically injured patients to the Nkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital. Other patients were stabilised at the scene and transported to various hospitals.

The cause of the bus veering off the road was not known and the driver was believed to be among those critically injured.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga sent her condolences to the families of the four pupils who were killed. - Independent on Saturday

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