BUS CRASH NEAR KOKSTAD

Nine people have been killed and about 28 others were injured when the bus they were travelling in careered off the road and capsized on its side at about 6am this morning (Saturday) about 10 kms outside Kokstad in Southern KwaZulu-Natal.

The Laleni Express bus, which left Johannesburg at about 8pm on Friday, was en route to the Eastern Cape. The crash occurred on the Franklin Road between Kokstad and Swartburg.

KwaZulu-Natal Minister of Transport, Mr S'bu Ndebele said the crash was caused by the driver travelling at excessive speed and this has been confirmed by two eyewitnesses. One of the eyewitnesses was a police captain who was cycling on the road when the bus sped passed him seconds before it crashed. Another bus driver who was driving behind the ill-fated bus also confirmed that the vehicle was travelling at high speed. The driver apparently lost control of the vehicle around a bend in the road and the bus hit the side of a bridge before veering across the road and capsizing on its side.

Several people were trapped under the bus and emergency services struggled for close to four hours to remove all the passengers. A crane had to be brought to the scene to lift up the wreckage so that those trapped under the bus could be freed.

Emergency services at the scene initially said that 10 people had been killed. However when the bus was lifted, a woman whom they thought was dead was still alive. They also then noticed that she is pregnant. She was airlifted by a Aeromed chopper to the Port Shepstone Provincial Hospital and her condition is described as serious.

The woman and four other people were rescued from under the bus. Among these were a mother and her small baby who were also seriously injured. It has not been established exactly how many passengers were travelling in the bus but emergency services say that a total of 28 people were injured, six of them seriously. The injured were taken to hospitals in Kokstad and Port Shepstone. Mr Ndebele said most of those who were travelling in the bus were migrant workers who were returning home to the Eastern Cape from Gauteng.

He has strongly condemned the bus company for not having a relief driver on the bus. "It is highly irresponsible for the driver to have been speeding. It shows that he has little regard for laws of the road but more than that, he had little regard for the lives of the passengers he was carrying."

"We have made repeated calls for drivers, especially those driving heavy and passenger vehicles, to be more responsible. Bus companies whose vehicles travel on this route are also highly irresponsible to have just one driver on the bus. They expect one person to drive throughout the night on so long a journey and still to be alert. We have had numerous crashes, involving multiple fatalities and injuries on this route for this very reason, " Mr Ndebele said.

He said that it had been discovered that the driver had made just one stop during the night to change a tyre and to refuel. "We appeal time and time again that drivers take a break every two hours. However, this driver was travelling for 10 hours with just one stop. Only a month ago, there was a bus crash in the same area which left three people dead and 37 injured. This bus was also travelling through the night from Southern KwaZulu-Natal to Gauteng and again there was no relief driver."

"I am making a strong and urgent appeal to bus companies whose vehicles travel on long journeys to ensure that there are relief drivers on board. They must also ensure that their drivers are qualified, that their vehicles are road-worthy and that they instruct their drivers to obey the laws of the road. If these companies are serious about road safety, they must take severe disciplinary action against drivers who are found to be speeding or infringing any other road law," Mr Ndebele said.

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