One person was killed and many were injured when a bus overturned on the N3 near Estcourt in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands, traffic officials said.
|||Durban - One person was killed and many were injured when a bus overturned on the N3 near Estcourt in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands early on Friday, traffic officials said.
KwaZulu-Natal Road Traffic Inspectorate spokeswoman Zinhle Mngomezulu said the cause of the accident was not yet known.
She said passengers at the accident scene had reported that the driver was driving erratically before the accident. However, she warned that it was too soon to determine the cause of the accident and investigations would have to be carried out.
The bus was on its way from Johannesburg to Durban when the accident happened.
Traffic Officials closed the south-bound lanes and traffic was diverted.
Netcare 911 spokesman Chris Botha said six people had been critically injured and 22 were reported to be in a serious condition.
Mngomezulu and Botha said the accident occurred near the Shell UltraCity outside the town of Estcourt.
Botha said paramedics at the scene told him it appeared that the bus had crashed into a truck before overturning.
Eldo Coaches managing director Mohsin Moolla was at the accident scene.
He told Sapa he could not comment on the cause of the accident as the company would have to await the outcome of the police accident investigation.
“It's too early to say what happened. We know there was a truck involved, but we have to wait for the police to conclude their investigations,” he said.
Wet weather seemed to have played a role in the accident as it was raining heavily in Estcourt. As far as he was aware, most of the injured had been taken to Estcourt Hospital. A standby bus was in Estcourt to take those who had been discharged to Durban.
He said the bus had received its roadworthy certificate about two weeks ago and its licence had been renewed.
The company was insured and would render all assistance possible to the injured and the family of the deceased.
The passenger who died was sitting on the upper level of the bus, he said. - Sapa
*This article was edited at 10:18am.