Eight schoolchildren died and 60 were seriously injured in a bus accident in Tabankulu in the Eastern Cape on Monday, the provincial transport department said.
Spokesperson Tshepo Machaea said the children from the Mtutukazi Junior Secondary School were on a tour to East London when the driver lost control while negotiating a curve, causing the bus to overturn.
Paramedics used the jaws of life to free some of the children who were trapped in the wreckage.
Police spokesperson Superintendent Nondumiso Jafta said the driver would face a charge of reckless driving.
Seventeen of the injured children were taken to the Mount Frere Hospital and 43 to Mount Ayliff Hospital, both in the vicinity of Tabankulu. – Sapa