South Africa: Train, bus crash kills pupils, teacher

[27vet]

News24.com

Johannesburg - Two pupils and a teacher were killed when a school bus collided with a train in Thulamahashe, Mpumalanga on Saturday morning, paramedics said.

The bus carrying 62 children and three teachers was returning to Pretoria from a school tour in Limpopo when the accident occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning, ER24 spokeswoman Vanessa Jackson said.

The bus was crossing the railway near the Rolle Train Station in Thulamahashe when a train hit it.

The driver of the bus allegedly fled the scene after the accident.

Other children and the two teachers who survived were treated on scene before they were taken to hospital.

[DSY011]

Hi 27vet,
This happens far too often in Southern Africa. With the powerful head light on the train, the driver must have known it was coming. He won't be the first to have fled the scene, nor will he be the last. Everyone who drives in South Africa knows that the law is for motor vehicles to stop at any level crossing. The last time I was in S.A. (last September), I twice saw a mini cab go flying across a level crossing without stopping. At one of the crossings a train was approaching but that would have held up the driver of the cab, so, NO STOP.

[27vet]

The road accident rate is also high there, particularly buses and mini bus taxis (as you would know).