An 8-year-old girl was the sole survivor after a bus carrying 46 people en route to an Easter weekend pilgrimage in South Africa on Thursday plunged 165 feet from a bridge into a ravine and burst into flames, according to the local Department of Transportation.
The bus was traveling from Botswana to Moria, a religious pilgrimage site in northeastern South Africa, when it plunged off a bridge over the Mmamatlakala mountain pass after the driver “lost control,” the department said in a statement.
Forty-five people, including the driver, were killed.
The girl was receiving medical attention at a nearby hospital, the transport department of South Africa’s Limpopo province said. a statement. The child was in serious condition, according to another government statement.
“Rescue operations continued late Thursday night as some bodies were burnt beyond recognition, others were trapped in the debris and others were scattered at the scene,” the transport department said.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa called his Botswana counterpart, President Mokgweetsi Masisi, to express his condolences, the president’s office said in a statement late Thursday night.
The crash occurred in a scenic, mountainous area with winding roads and sweeping views about three and a half hours north of Johannesburg. The road at a high pass bent sharply over a ravine flanked on both sides by rocky, wooded slopes.
The area draws a lot of traffic over the Easter weekend for a pilgrimage to Moriah, home of Zion Christian Church, one of the largest in the country. South African border officials had said they were preparing for an influx of visitors for the pilgrimage.
The nationalities of the victims have not yet been determined.
Tragedy struck as South Africans prepared for a four-day weekend, with public holidays on Friday and Monday.
During major holidays, South African authorities often take additional measures such as police roadblocks and advertising campaigns to help prevent road accidents. On Wednesday, South Africa’s Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga launched an Easter road safety campaign, noting that road accidents often increase during the holiday.
“Easter is a time of celebration, but it is also a time when roads can be more dangerous due to increased traffic and festive holidays,” the ministry warned.
Africa has historically had one of the highest road death rates in the world, according to data from the World Bank and the World Health Organization.
South Africa had more than 12,400 road traffic deaths in 2022, the most recent year for which statistics are available. The Automobile Association of South Africa called road deaths a “national crisis” in a statement released last year. The association argued that the government needed to invest more in road safety and better enforce traffic laws.
“Unless these two issues are addressed, our country’s abysmal road safety situation will never improve,” he said.
