Twenty-one people were killed on the N1 when a bus and a truck were involved in a collision near Beaufort West in the early hours of Thursday.
The accident happened around 1am about seven kilometres outside Leeu-Gamka, between Beaufort West and Laingsburg. That strip of road is infamous as a ”death run”.
Boland police spokesperson Inspector Elgin Antonie, speaking from the accident scene, said 20 people died at the crash site. One bus passenger died in the Beaufort West Hospital.
The force of the collision caused the Bokwes Coach services bus, carrying 33 including the driver, and the Roy Nel Transport truck, to leave the road. The bus was en route from Queenstown to Cape Town, and the truck was from the Eastern Cape.
Five other passengers were being treated in the Beaufort West Hospital, seven others were taken by ambulance to Prince Albert Hospital.
Antonie said the driver of the truck, a horse-and-trailer, and the bus driver were both admitted to Prince Albert Hospital and were reportedly stable.
One lane of the N1 was still closed to traffic at 8am on Thursday.
Leeu-Gamka police were investigating a case of culpable homicide.
The N1 between Laingsburg and Beaufort West has been termed the ”death run” because of the huge numbers of accidents on this featureless stretch of the highway. Many of the accident are believed to have been caused by drivers falling asleep. – Sapa