Thirty people, including 10 children, will not make it home this Christmas; they were killed early on Saturday morning in a head-on collision between a minibus taxi and a 32-ton tanker carrying lime powder, on the N3 near Harrismith.
All but one victim were in the taxi, which was carrying 34 people. The vehicle’s permitted capacity is 23.
It is believed the taxi driver lost control on a curve and veered into oncoming traffic.
Road Traffic Management Corporation’s Ashref Ismail said: “This is the biggest accident we have had this year. Investigators are investigating fatigue, speed and overload, which are all contributing factors to the accident.”
Speaking at the scene of the crash, Free State police spokesman, Mmako Mophiring, said the minibus, which was travelling from Rustenburg, was headed for Umtata, pulling a trailer.
He said 28 people died at the scene and two in hospital – nine females, 11 males and 10 children, including an eight-month-old baby. “One of the dead was in the truck.”
Describing the scene, he said: “The minibus fell on its left side… Bodies were strewn across the island and we had to close the N3.”
Authorities are still trying to establish the identities of the deceased and the seven survivors, who are in a critical condition at the Harrismith Provincial Hospital.
“We informed their families as they come from the rural villages of Tsolo,” Mophiring said.
The death toll surpassed that of a Knysna bus crash earlier this year in which 14 children died.
“We are investigating a case of culpable homicide,” said Mophiring, adding that they didn’t yet know if the taxi driver was among the dead.
Netcare 911 spokesman Jeff Wicks described the crash as the worst scene his team had responded to this year.
Transport Minister S’busiso Ndebele gave his condolences to the families of the deceased and urged drivers to take breaks on long-distance trips. As part of the festive season road safety plan, compulsory stops had been implemented along major arterial routes for public transport.
Richard Benson of the Road Safety Action Campaign questioned how the vehicle was allowed to travel such a great distance without any action being taken for it being overloaded. “To me it sounds like a combination of speeding and overloading but what worries me is if there was proper poli-cing that vehicle would’ve never gotten that far.”
South Africans used the word “accident” loosely and should consider what it meant before declaring a situation an accident.
“In a crash where the law has been broken, like this one, it is not an accident. Reducing the speed limits by 10km could be an option that would save lives.”
In another crash on Friday, a driver was arrested after five people were killed in a head-on collision between a taxi and a truck on the N2 near Um-zumbe, outside Port Shepstone.
KwaZulu-Natal transport spokesman, Kwanele Ncalane, said: “We don’t believe in festive season accidents. It’s people who are rushing to make money and spend money that endanger the lives of others. We need to be harsh and have harsher sentences.” - Sunday Tribune