19 pupils plus 1 driver die in taxi accident in South Africa

                                 Scene of the accident                            (C)EWN

Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi says counselling is being arranged for the families of those killed in Friday afternoon's massive taxi accident in Bronkhorstspruit, South Africa. Nineteen school children and the taxi driver were killed when their taxi collided with a truck on the Groblersdal Road. The taxi then burst into flames shortly after impact. Lesufi says it’s a sad day for the department.
“If there is a parent who has a child that goes to school around Bronkhorstspruit, we’d urge them to come to the scene. We’ve arranged for counsellors to provide them with all necessary information.”
At the same time, the road between Bronkhorstspruit and Verena remains closed to allow investigators space to comb the scene of the crash. Lesufi has described the scene as horrific. He says the surviving pupils have been rushed to hospital.
“We can now confirm that 20 people died at the scene and the rest were hospitalised. Of the 20 that died, one is the driver and 19 are school learners.”
Meanwhile, the Road Safety Action Campaign has called on the government to reduce the speed limit on the country’s roads following the crash. The campaign’s Richard Benson said: “We know that speeding is involved in all major crashes and we also want to call on the government to increase the number of traffic police to prevent these types of crashes from occurring.”
Source: EWN