Death toll in N1 bus crash rises to 22

The Limpopo department of transport and community safety on Thursday morning confirmed that the number of people killed in a bus accident on the N1 highway on Monday has risen to 22.

According to the department, SA Police Service divers have discovered another body at the scene. 

Department spokesperson Tidimalo Chuene said police divers returned to the scene on Thursday morning.

“Police divers went back to the culpable homicide scene this morning, 16 February 2023, after a family came forward reporting that they could not locate a loved one who was on the Mabirimisa bus that plunged into Phandanama river along the N1 near Hendrik Verwoerd tunnel, after a head-on collision with a cash-in-transit (CIT) van on Monday,” she said.

About 68 people were injured in the collision on the N1 in the Makhado (Louis Trichardt) area of Limpopo.

The bus was transporting passengers from Makhado to areas around Nzhelele, Siloam and Tshikombani when it collided head-on with the CIT van near the Louis Trichardt tunnel.

ER24, which attended to the scene, said after the collision, the bus rolled off the freeway bridge into the river below, landing on its side.

One of the victims, who confirmed that he took the bus, told the deputy minister of transport, Sindisiwe Chikunga, on Wednesday, that the bus driver was allegedly reprimanded many times for speeding.

The man alleged that when the accident happened, the driver was trying to overtake a truck carrying sand.

TimesLIVE