Five-year-old girl dies, 20 injured after driver ploughs into wedding crowd

A five-year-old was killed and 20 people injured in Sebokeng‚ Gauteng‚ on Saturday when an alleged drunk driver ploughed into a crowd at a wedding celebration.

This was one of several fatal incidents in the province at the weekend.

“A man was arrested after he drove with his Jeep vehicle into a group of people at a wedding party. Six of the victims were seriously injured and 14 others sustained slight injuries‚” police spokesperson Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said on Sunday.

The girl was seriously injured and later died in hospital.

The driver - who was allegedly drunk - is one of over 200 people arrested for various crimes in the province over the weekend.

In another incident‚ two children aged three and five died in a shack fire in Springs.

Dlamini said their mother had allegedly gone out to phone her boyfriend before residents told her that her shack was on fire.

“Unfortunately the fire was already at an advanced stage and they could not save the children who had already burned beyond recognition.”

Also‚ an 18-month-old baby died and five people were injured when they were attacked with rifles by unknown people while driving in an open veld in Benoni.

“It is suspected that they were attacked by illegal miners.”

In Johannesburg‚ two suspects were arrested for attempted murder and possession of an unlicensed firearm after shooting at the other party involved in a crash with them.

Dlamini added: “A woman was also arrested in Diepsloot after she had fatally stabbed her husband following an argument.”