South Africa bus crash kills 29
Rescuers stand at the scene of a fatal crash between a minibus taxi, carrying children to school, and a commuter train on August 25, 2010 on the outskirt of Cape Town. Road accident deaths are twice as high in South Africa as the global average.
A bus crash in South Africa's Mpumalanga province killed 29 people late on Monday, in an incident that has prompted soul-searching over the nation's high rates of road deaths.
The accident occurred when a bus smashed into a truck, with scores of surviving passengers taken to nearby hospitals for treatment. AFP reports that the crash took place near the town of Kwaggafontein, some 60 miles from Pretoria, on a road that is notorious for fatal accidents.
"This carnage must stop. It is completely unacceptable," said South African President Jacob Zuma of the incident, according to the BBC.
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Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza expressed his "shock and sadness" over the incident to IOL News. "Accidents are not only expensive to government but they rob families of their loved ones, breadwinners and future leaders for the country," he said.
South Africa has a notoriously high rate of deadly traffic accidents, with over 10,000 deaths annually according to figures cited by Bloomberg. And the carnage is expensive: it's estimated these incidents cost South Africa $29 billion annually.
Political parties in South Africa intend to call for an investigation into Monday's incident, which follows hot on the heels of a Sept. 5 accident that killed 24 people.
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