An 8-year-old girl is the only survivor of a bus crash that killed 45 Easter pilgrims in Limpopo province, South Africa.
According to a BBC report, the people died after the bus they were in plunged some 50m (165ft) off a bridge into a ravine, leaving the 8-year-old survivor with “serious injuries but is now in a stable condition.”
The bus reportedly caught fire when it hit the ground after it crashed through a barrier in the north-eastern province of Limpopo.
The passengers were pilgrims travelling from Botswana’s capital, Gaborone, to an Easter service in the town of Moria.
“What we suspect is that when the bus hit the barrier of the bridge, the child was ejected out of the bus, and that is how the child was able to survive,” the spokesperson for the Department of Transport, Colin Msibi, told the global broadcaster.
The Transport Minister, Sindisiwe Chikunga, sent “heartfelt condolences to the families affected by the tragic bus crash,” having visited the crash site.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time,” she added. “We continue to urge responsible driving at all times with heightened alertness as more people are on our roads this Easter weekend.”
The Minister told eNCA that the road on which the accident occurred had “winding with sharp bends, hairpin bends, a road that I’d never advise any person who is driving a heavy vehicle such as a bus, such as a truck, to use”.
She emphasised that the South African government would “help repatriate the bodies and hold a full inquiry into the cause of the crash.”
Meanwhile, Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi sent his “deepest condolences” to the pilgrims’ relatives, as well as the church they belonged to, following the “heartbreaking” crash, a statement from his party read in parts.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, in a statement after the crash, extended his sympathies to the President and the good people of Botswana, as well as the victims’ loved ones.