JOHANNESBURG: Twelve schoolchildren and their driver were killed in South Africa on Wednesday when their minibus overturned and caught fire on a road in Gauteng province, officials said. The accident took place a day after schools reopened after the winter holidays.
Seven other children were injured in the accident, which took place in the town of Merafong, west of the country’s economic hub Johannesburg.
Reports said a that a small truck, known as a bakkie, had slammed into the back of the minibus transporting the children, causing it to overturn and erupt into flames.
Education and transport officials visited the scene of the crash and the injured children at a hospital in the nearby area of Carletonville. Head of the Gauteng provincial government, Panyaza Lesufi, also visited the injured children.
Gauteng education department spokesman Steve Mabona said 11 of the children who died attended Rocklands Primary School while the twelfth child went to Laerskool Blyvooruitsig in Carletonville.
“The pupils’ transport was hit from behind by a bakkie, causing it to overturn and subsequently catch fire,” Mabona said, describing the crash as a “horrific accident.”
Thousands of schoolchildren in Gauteng rely on private minibuses for transport to and from their schools across South Africa’s most populous province. Many others rely on public transport, including municipal buses and taxis.
12 schoolchildren and their driver are killed when their minibus crashes in South Africa
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12 schoolchildren and their driver are killed when their minibus crashes in South Africa
- Seven other children were injured in the accident, which took place in the town of Merafong
- A small truck, known as a bakkie, had slammed into the back of the minibus transporting the children
Junta leader Gen. Mamdi Doumbouya is declared winner of Guinea’s election, provisional results show
CONAKRY, Guinea: Junta leader Gen. Mamdi Doumbouya was declared the winner of Guinea’s election held over the weekend, according to provisional results released late on Tuesday.
Doumbouya won 86.72 percent of the votes counted so far, according to the General Directorate of Elections. The election on Sunday was the country’s first election since a 2021 coup, as analysts said a weakened opposition would result in Doumbouya’s win.
The vote was the culmination of a transition process that began four years ago after Doumbouya ousted President Alpha Condé. The junta leader has proceeded to clamp down on the main opposition and dissent, critics say, leaving him with no major opposition among the eight other candidates in the race.
