Toddler airlifted from Eastern Cape horror crash dies in hospital
Initially, provincial reports stated that 25 people died in the crash near Centane, but this number was revised down to 24.
The bus in which 25 people were killed and about 60 injured when it rolled down a steep incline near Centane in the Eastern Cape, 2 March 2020. Photo: Eastern Cape Health department
A three-year-old boy who was the first to be airlifted from a horrific bus accident in the Eastern Cape on Monday, has died at Frere Hospital, according to provincial authorities.
Initially, provincial reports stated that 25 people died in the crash near Centane, but this number was revised down to 24.
With the toddler’s death, the number is back up to 25, according to Eastern Cape health department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo.
“We have one female patient admitted [to] the ICU at Frere and five others at [the] orthopaedic ward,” he said on Tuesday.
While the cause of the bus crash was unknown, Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) spokesperson Simon Zwane said on Monday that the driver reportedly lost control of the bus in the bushes while going down a steep decline.
Sixty-one people were said to have been injured.
Kupelo said that the families of people killed on Monday identified their loved ones at the Eastern Cape Department of Health’s forensic facility in Butterworth.
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said that the horror bus crash was probably partly caused by overloading.
Hospitals in Mthatha and East London were instructed to keep beds unoccupied in the event that those who were injured would be transferred there.
Kupelo said on Monday that loved ones would be informed of where to go once the search and rescue mission was completed.
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