According to a local online news website, the students ranged in age from five to 12.
According to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport, a truck slammed head-on with a pickup vehicle transporting students from local schools on Friday, killing 19 children and two adults.
The accident occurred on national route N2 in Pongola, eastern South Africa, after a truck driver sped and overtook another vehicle on a double barrier line, “clearly violating all possible traffic regulations,” according to the department in a Facebook post describing circulating footage of the incident.
According to investigators, the vehicle slammed head-on with a Toyota Hilux pickup truck, killing 19 pupils from four local schools and two adults, including the driver. It is unknown how many individuals were in the automobile and whether any of them survived.
According to news24, a local online news source, the students varied in age from five to twelve.
The truck driver, who first left the scene, surrendered to police on Saturday after a manhunt was started to find him. According to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transportation, he will appear in Pongola Magistrate Court on Monday to face accusations of culpable murder and careless driving.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the deceased,” Sipho Hlomuka, member of the executive council for transport community safety and liaison, said in a statement. “We are deeply disturbed by this fatal accident. The death of so many young lives is too painful.”
According to the transportation department, angry community members set fire to a truck and flung stones at other vehicles on the N2 motorway on Friday after the collision.
“Police and South African Defense Force troops are now monitoring the situation in the vicinity,” the agency stated in a Facebook post.
On Monday, a KwaZulu-Natal government team will visit the victims’ relatives and the four impacted schools and attend the truck driver’s court proceedings. Representatives from the national Department of Transport, provincial governments, the Road Accident Fund, the Road Traffic Management Corporation, South African Police Services, and the Road Traffic Inspectorate are among those in the delegation.
