Alex Matlala

Alex Matlala

The bodies of the six people who died in a car crashhave been kept in an Elim government mortuary since last Saturday as the search for their next of kin continues.

So far police have been unable to locate their relatives.

Makhado police spokesperson Captain Maano Sadike said they suspected the victims were Mozambican nationals working in South Africa because of the registration numbers of the vehicles and the type of loads they carried.

He said six people died instantly in the accident and another six sustained injuries.

They were treated at Louis Trichardt Memorial Hospital and discharged a few days later.

He said police were unable to identify the victims because they did not have their identity documents with them.

"We usually keep the bodies for about three to six months and if they are not identified, we bury them as paupers," he said.

Sadike said the accident apparently happened when two vehicles travelling along the N1 road near Kennington Lodge, 3km before Makhado, collided head on.

Meanwhile, the search is still on for the man accused of setting alight a house in which his wife, their five children and two others of his brothers-in-law were sleeping. The victims burnt to death.

Police said they were guarding the borders in and out from Mozambique where the suspect is believed to originate from.