11 dead in minibus, truck collision in South Africa
A collision involving a minibus taxi and a truck killed at least 11 people in South Africa on Thursday, a local Government official and emergency services said, just over a week after a similar road crash left 14 schoolchildren dead. Thursday’s crash happened near the city of Durban in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province.
Provincial transport department official Siboniso Duma said in a statement that 11 people, including a schoolchild, died at the scene, although that was according to preliminary information. “Witnesses have alleged that the truck driver made a U-turn resulting in a head-on collision,” Duma said. Garrith Jamieson, spokesperson for the private paramedic service ALS Paramedics, said 11 were dead and several people were critically injured, including the driver of the minibus, who was trapped in the wreckage.
The fatal collision came days after a deadly head-on crash between a minibus taxi being used to transport schoolchildren and a truck. The driver of the minibus involved in that crash near Johannesburg on January 19 was arrested and charged with 14 counts of murder.
