A school bus was torn open in a freak accident on a Johannesburg highway on Wednesday, killing one person and injuring 42, many of them children.
The bus was taking the children back to Grayston Preparatory after a school outing when its wheel got caught in an open storm-water drain, said Malcolm Midgley, emergency services spokesperson.
”It veered off the road and hit a lamppost, which ripped it open, just like a tin can,” he said from the scene.
Midgley said the driver was killed, and two children and two adults were critically injured.
All passengers were taken to hospital for observation.
Grayston school was not immediately available for comment, as its telephones were being overwhelmed by calls from concerned parents, a secretary said.
The accident occurred between the Marlboro and Grayston offramps on the M1 at about 3.30pm. No other vehicles were involved.
Midgley explained that the storm-water drain had no lid, and the road is very narrow at that point.
He said traffic was disrupted, but is now flowing slowly again. — Sapa