A vehicle collided with a minibus on a South African highway, causing a horrific disaster that claimed the lives of 19 schoolchildren. Let’s see regarding the South African highway crash and What happened in detail
What happened on the South African Highway?
On Friday afternoon, the tragedy took place in the Pongola region, which is located around 300 kilometers north of Durban.
On the two-lane highway, horrifying dashcam video captured the moment the lorry passed another truck before ramming into the minibus carrying schoolchildren.
Before being struck by the approaching lorry, the minibus reportedly attempted to veer out of the way, according to local media sources. Authorities said that three adults and 19 children, all between the ages of five and twelve, perished in the collision.
The accident occurred in the Pongola area, near the border with Eswatini. South Africa’s roads are among the most developed on the continent, but safety remains an issue with most accidents blamed on reckless driving.
According to reports, the children were traveling home from school at the time.
What happened to the kids?
On the two-lane highway, horrifying dashcam video captured the moment the lorry passed another truck before ramming into the minibus carrying schoolchildren.
Before being struck by the approaching lorry, the minibus reportedly attempted to veer out of the way, according to local media sources.
Authorities said that three adults and 19 children, all between the ages of five and twelve, perished in the collision.
According to reports, the children were traveling home from school at the time.
Also, according to reports from the scene, up to twelve school children suffered minor to moderate injuries, while one adult also suffered moderate injuries, according to emergency services, Emer-G-Med.
The injured students were treated and stabilized on the spot before being transported to several surrounding hospitals for additional medical attention, according to Kyle van Reenen, a spokeswoman for Emer-G-Med.
Truck driver arrested
After the truck driver left the scene, police were able to apprehend him on Saturday after he turned himself in, according to eNCA.
On Monday, he is scheduled to appear in court.
Moreover, Sipho Hlomuka, the regional minister of transport, said: “The loss of so many young lives is a great tragedy.”
Although South Africa’s roads are among the most developed on the continent, safety is still a concern because reckless driving is to blame for the majority of incidents.
The death toll in the horror crash on the N2 highway in northern KwaZulu-Natal has risen to 21. 19 of the deceased are children, aged between 5 and 12 years. The accident happened near Pongola in the eMakhalathini area. #DStv403 #eNCA pic.twitter.com/DdTzZiDR7p
— eNCA (@eNCA) September 16, 2022
Similar Tragic Accidents
In the Mpumalanga province, north of the capital Pretoria, a minibus carrying 19 pupils collided with a truck in 2017 and burst into flames, killing all 19 of the passengers. Both elementary and secondary-aged kids were reportedly on board.
A British teen girl and her royal family-related mother were assassinated in 2018 while they were returning from a safari excursion.
A Mercedes struck Louise Sword, 53, and Tabitha, 12, head-on near Zinkwazi in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, killing both of them. Her 53-year-old husband Alistair and her 11-year-old son Benjamin were both freed from the destroyed SUV.
And in 2019, while travelling the fabled 450-mile Garden Route from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, three British visitors were killed when their 4×4 went over a bridge and fell 75 feet into a river.
The group’s double cab Toyota station waggon and luggage trailer were involved in an accident with a Chrysler Neon as they were starting to make their way home from their “ideal vacation.”
How are People reacting to this incident?
IBN posted,
I drove that same road for 15 years. It was always an accident waiting to happen. Residential areas, steep hills slow trucks and fast cars. Heartbreaking.
Acteon posted,
Two things strike me here, first-the truck didn’t even try to slow down before impact when the van was clearly visible…. Second- is the van a clown car in disguise? How do you even get 21 people in that thing?
Craze posted,
South Africa, those vans are sort of like taxis and they are almost always full to the brim.
Wunch posted,
i noticed the van kind of veered to the left and the truck kind of followed.
Entrophic posted,
Down here in South America we have something similar to school buses, which are like largish vans which you can cram kids into to take them home or to school, this one was probably one of those.
Greg posted,
Even if he did apply the air brakes. That much mass and inertia from that truck takes a really long distance to slow down.
Impressive posted,
I think the truck had a brake failure. Air brakes get hot and eventually stop working. Same goes for hydraulic brakes but when you have a load and start to lose the rig, you gotta bin it where you can.
Noopen posted,
Yeah I was wondering about both of those things. Anyone stuffing 19 children in a van is suspicious to me.
Bluscus posted,
This is in South Africa. And as a South African, this driving is completely normal here. We have SO MANY road deaths every single day. Not to mention wildly overloaded vehicles on the road. It’s horrifying.
Allie posted,
Driver said his brakes failed then he fled the scene. He was arrested and will be in court on Monday. One article almost blames the truck that was taking kids to school because of “unregulated school transport”.
keep reading,
How did Valencia Prime die? Philly drag queen cause of death
Who is Alejandro Fernández? Meet the Mexico’s biggest superstar to accompany Canelo Alvarez
Follow us on Twitter to get instant notifications on the latest news.
Lavanya (Senior Editor) is a full-time content writer with almost 5 years of experience and a part-time teacher. She joined Medico Topics on the Breaking News trainee scheme in 2022 and now works on MedicoTopics.com. As a lifelong learner, She is constantly curious about learning new things and passionate about sharing knowledge with people through her writing and teaching.