Interview with bus crash survivor
One person had been flung out of the bus and was lying on the other side of the road
A bus and a truck collided in the early hours of this morning along the N3 near Shell Ultra City outside Colenso. The Ladysmith Gazette spoke to one of the survivors after the crash…
He was quoted as saying, “Most of us were sleeping at the time. We woke to people screaming and blood everywhere. One person had been flung out of the bus and was lying on the other side of the road. There were people who were stuck under the seats.”
He went on to say that, “Others in the bus were injured and we didn’t want to move them because they were in odd positions. We are lucky to be alive! The only problem now is transport. I don’t know this town and now we just have to wait and see what happens from here, but I will never travel on this bus again”.
He added that the bus had been shaking at certain points along the way. “We stopped at Montrose, but didn’t change drivers. It would’ve been better if a new driver had carried on from there.”
It is alleged that the bus smashed into the back of a truck on the N3 Durban-bound between Ultra City and the Frere off-ramp at about 3.30am, causing the bus to flip onto two wheels and slide along the road before landing on its side. The Eldo Coach bus was travelling from Johannesburg to Durban at the time.
Emergency personnel rushed to the scene, where one person was fatally injured. Others who had sustained severe injuries were rushed to hospital, including the Provincial Hospital and La Verna Hospital in Ladysmith.
There were approximately 69 people on the bus at the time of the crash. 64 people were injured. Of the 64 injured, five were seriously injured. One person, because of his weight, was trapped in the wreckage and had to be assisted by emergency services to get out of the vehicle. The remaining occupants were treated for minor or moderate injuries and transported to hospital by ambulance.
At around 4am, paramedics were called out to the scene of the crash. Reports of all emergency services being at the scene have been confirmed, with the injured being transported to various hospitals nearby, including Ladysmith. Sharaj Ambulance Services transported a large number of the injured to Ladysmith.
The truck stopped a short distance away from the initial site of impact, in the slow lane, and the driver was not injured.
Police will conduct all necessary investigations into the cause of the crash.
