Fourteen people including school children have been killed in a pile-up involving a minibus taxi and four other cars in East London, in South Africa’s Eastern Province. The accident happened last Thursday.
“At this stage we have nine school children and five adults certified dead on the scene,” police Captain Steven Maree said from the scene.
“Two other children and an adult were taken to hospital in a critical stage.”
Police earlier said that 17 people had died in the crash.
Maree said the children, who are attending local primary school were travelling back home from a school tour in the area when the accident happened at around 7:00 pm (1800 GMT).
Maree said the minibus taxi collided head-on with an on-coming truck between Butterworth and East London and three more cars got involved.
“We are not going to speculate how it happened. It is still not clear how it happened and who was at fault,” Maree added.
“We are not even sure if the five adults were the teachers or the driver of the other cars. We will know after the scene has been cleared and the victims identified.”
He said even the death toll could change as some of the victims had been torn apart and might have been counted twice, while others are suspected to be buried under the rubble.
The darkness of the night was also making it difficult for emergency people to work, said Maree.
