'I was trapped by steel': N1 bus crash survivors speak about their ordeal

A victim of the Limpopo bus crash that claimed 21 lives on Monday says the bus driver, who had been warned many times, was trying to overtake a truck when the accident happened.

On Wednesday the deputy minister of transport, Sindisiwe Chikunga, Limpopo MEC for transport and community safety Florence Radzilani and the executive mayor of the Vhembe district municipality, Dowelani Nenguda, visited victims of the horrific crash at Elim Hospital in Makhado. 

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

Twenty-one people lost their lives and 68 were injured.

A man identified as Mr Baloyi told the minister that he took the bus as usual.

“They have been reprimanding him for a long time — they took away [an articulated bus] from him and gave him a small bus. It was overloaded, it was very full, but I was sitting down on a seat,” he said.

Baloyi said the driver accelerated trying to overtake a truck carrying sand.

“He stepped on it [accelerated] when he wanted to overtake a truck. A cash-in-transit car approached and he shouted, then I heard a bang. [The bus] turned, falling into a hole, rolling. That is when I screamed — when I was trapped by steel.”

Baloyi said his head was stuck. “A taxi came and helped us. I screamed for help, saying that my head and neck were trapped. They helped me out, grabbing the steel and they removed me through the window and laid me to the side.”

It was not the first time he’d had a bad experience with the same bus, Baloyi added. 

Another survivor said the bus was from Makhado and many of the passengers were going home from work. She said many of the passengers were residents of Nzhelele and the surrounding area.

“I am feeling better now. It is the hand [that was injured] because it was trapped. My hips are painful, my spine was also hurt — I cannot sit,” said the woman.

According to the police, preliminary findings show that the cash-in-transit van veered off from its lane into the lane of the bus. The police who were briefing the deputy transport minister said the van was not roadworthy.

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.