A passenger bus carrying passengers to Zimbabwe from Gauteng veered off the N1 highway near the Beitbridge border post on Wednesday after losing control and crashed into a ditch, officials said.
Emergency crews reported at least four fatalities at the scene. A further 31 individuals were injured, some of them more seriously. Search and rescue crews remained at the scene for hours after the incident. They worked to reach the victims trapped in the debris.
The bus crashed. The official reason given for the accident is that the driver lost control of the vehicle. The reasons for the crash have not yet been confirmed; investigators will be looking into the matter to establish whether it was due to speed, mechanical failure, or road conditions.
Emergency services, such as paramedics and the fire brigade, cut through parts of the bus which had been badly damaged. Photographs from the scene depicted the bus in a ditch embedded in the side of the road, resting on its side with scattered debris.
Priority was to clear the scene and place accident victims in ambulance bays of local hospitals. So traffic across the N1 at Beitbridge was backed up.
There are a number of cross border Buses that travel this route, linking Gauteng Province to Zimbabwe through one of the busiest land border crossings in southern Africa.
As of late Wednesday, authorities have not identified the victims. Emergency crews were still recovering bodies late Wednesday and preparing to identify the victims.