A truck smashed head-on into a school bus on a South African highway Friday, killing 19 children and two adults.
A dashcam video shows the truck driver illegally passing another truck over a double line on a two-lane highway outside Pongola before crashing into the bus.
After initially fleeing the scene, the driver turned himself into authorities after being charged with culpable homicide and negligent driving.
The children who died were between the ages of 5 and 12; the adult victims were the bus driver and another passenger. It was unclear whether anyone survived the incident.
Following the closure of rails and ports in the area, aggressive truck drivers had taken over the roads, according to locals.
Drivers drive however they want, and some truck companies don’t pay their drivers fairly. They pay drivers per load, Changing-Pearce said.
Pongola communities living and using the N2 are being terrorized, and warnings were given beforehand that problems would arise. We have told the authorities that we expect this to happen in the future.”
For more on this story, please consider these sources:
- Pongola horror crash: ‘Mbalula, we sounded the alarm in 2019 already,’ resident – EWN
- Pongola residents blame reckless truck driving for crash that claimed lives of 19 pupils – News24
- Reckless truck driver kills 21 in ruthless overtake – CapeTown ETC
- WATCH: Dashcam footage of the horrific N2 Pongola crash – The South African