Ofure Akhigbe
At least 42 people have died and 49 others were injured after a bus veered off the N1 highway and plunged down an embankment on a steep mountain pass in northern South Africa on Sunday evening.
The accident occurred around 6 p.m. near the town of Louis Trichardt, about 400 kilometers north of Pretoria. According to the Transport Ministry, the victims included seven children, 17 men, and 18 women. Six people were critically injured, while 31 sustained serious injuries and were taken to various hospitals. One critically injured child was airlifted for emergency care.
Authorities said the bus was traveling to Zimbabwe and was carrying Zimbabwean and Malawian nationals returning to their home countries. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
Images released by emergency services showed the blue bus overturned at the bottom of the embankment as rescuers worked through the night to recover victims.
President Cyril Ramaphosa extended condolences to the governments and people of Zimbabwe and Malawi, expressing sadness that the tragedy occurred during South Africa’s annual Transport Month — a period focused on promoting road safety.
“This sadness is compounded by the fact that this incident has taken place during our annual Transport Month, where we place a special focus on the importance of safety on our roads,” Ramaphosa said.
The tragedy comes just a year after another fatal crash in Limpopo province, in which 45 people — mostly Botswana nationals — were killed when their bus plunged off a bridge into a ravine. An eight-year-old girl was the only survivor of that 2024 accident.