Injured survivors of the bus crash near Vryheid in northern KwaZulu-Natal, which claimed the lives of eight people, say they were sleeping when the bus overturned. Earlier, it was reported that the death toll was nine, but KwaZulu-Natal authorities confirmed on Monday that there were eight fatalities.
Families from Mpumalanga are expected to travel to Vryheid on Tuesday to identify their deceased family members.
The bus was ferrying ANC supporters back home to Mpumalanga after they attended the party’s manifesto launch rally in Durban. It’s believed that the bus driver lost control in the early hours of Sunday morning, after which it overturned. The crash occurred on the R33 between Vryheid and Paulpietersburg.
The injured passengers, who were hospitalized, say they didn’t see what happened, as they were asleep when the bus crashed. They say when they woke up, all they heard were other passengers screaming. Three injured passengers are being treated in the Vryheid hospital. They say they are grateful for having survived.
“I was sleeping. I did not see much when the bus fell, I was entrapped by the seat, then some passengers rescued me,” a passenger explains.
“I can’t recall what happened as I was sleeping when the bus overturned, I was trapped inside until emergency services rescued me,” another passenger says.
A delegation led by KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane and her Mpumalanga counterpart, Sasekani Manzini visited the injured in hospital. A fourth injured passenger has been transferred to Greys Hospital in Pietermaritzburg for specialized treatment.
“We have agreed that we are not going to transfer them because that is one of the things that we wanted to look at whether we needed to transfer them so that they can be closer to their families, but we have agreed that let them get the treatment here because they are going for operation already, so we don’t want to interrupt and delay that. So, we are going to allow them to get that treatment and be operated and once they are ready for discharge then they will hand over to us, as Mpumalanga so that we can continue to give them the necessary treatment,” says Mpumalanga Health MEC Sasekani Manzini.
“The number is actually eight, nine because when they were busy with the work because remember when we started talking to the media it was still an active site. We had not concluded actually what had happened on site so there was a bit of confusion but there are eight people that passed on,” says KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane.
