UPDATE: Third fatality in Metro bus crash
PARKWOOD - A major bus crash occurred on Jan Smuts Avenue on the morning of 24 April.
UPDATE: 24 April 2015, 5.50pm – A third person has succumbed to injuries they sustained in this morning’s Metro bus accident on Jan Smuts Avenue, according to Johannesburg Emergency Services spokesperson Nana Radebe, quoted on Talk Radio 702.
People who said they were passengers on the bus that caused the accident called the station to say that the bus driver had been travelling at a regular speed.
UPDATE: 24 April 2015, 1.50pm– In an official statement to the media, the City of Johannesburg stated that the Metro bus board of directors and its managing director Mavela Dlamini wished to express their sincere condolences to the families that lost their loved ones in the accident.
“I was shocked upon hearing the news this morning and immediately went to the scene with some of my managers,” said Dlamini.
Dlamini said that he was extremely perturbed by the rapid occurrence of accidents involving Metro bus drivers and reports of speeding and or using a cell phone whilst driving. He also said that the executive mayor councilor Parks Tau, Board members and himself would visit some of the 66 people that were hospitlaised.
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An emergency meeting of the Board is being scheduled for later today as well as one with drivers in next week.
A pregnant woman and a bus driver was killed in the accident.
UPDATE: 24 April 2015, 11am – According to ER24, a total of 65 people were injured in this morning’s bus collision on Jan Smuts Avenue in Saxonwold. ER24, other services, authorities and Urban Search and Rescue are still at the scene.
Specialised medical rescue equipment is being used to extricate a bus driver and a passenger who are still trapped.
A heavy tow truck is being used to pull the buses apart to rescue the patients.
Watch a video of the fire fighters trying to get to the people stuck in the wreckage:
UPDATE: 24 April 2015, 10:30am – According to Ward 117 councillor Tim Truluck 66 people were involved in the bus crash on Jan Smuts Avenue at the Saxonwold bends.
He posted in the I Love Parkhurst facebook group that one of the drivers is dead along with the pregnant passenger. The other driver is still trapped and there are 5 people critically injured.
It is believed that the woman was meant to go on maternity leave next week.
UPDATE: 24 April 2015, 9:45am –
Watch a video of one of the bus passenger’s explaining how the accident happened:
Two Metro Buses collided with each other on Jan Smuts Avenue.
One of the drivers is still wedged in the wreckage.
It is believed that there are school children in the buses as well. Some of the passengers are still trapped.
Spokesperson for transport of Johannesburg, Nico de Jager said the bus hit a barricade and swerved, hitting the double-decker bus. De Jager confirmed that four passengers were still trapped in the double-decker bus, including a pregnant woman.
“One of the drivers passed away, after they [paramedics] tried to pull him out,” De Jager said.
It is believed that there are 47 people injured, 15 of whom are critical.
Ward 117 councillor Tim Truluck calls this stretch of road the Saxonwold bend and said it was a slippery and dangerous road.
City of Joburg Emergency Services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said there were multiple patients and emergency services were on their way to the scene. He warned motorists that traffic had been delayed in the area.
Watch a video from the scene below:
