Cape Town - A 55-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the horror crash that claimed the lives of five pupils and seriously injured two others, along AZ Berman Drive in Mitchells Plain on Tuesday morning.
Police spokesperson, Wesley Twigg said: “The 55-year-old driver was arrested on a charge of culpable homicide and will appear in the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s court once he has been charged.
“Two children six and 15 years old were transported to hospital for medical treatment.”
Education MEC David Maynier said WCED counselling services were being dispatched to various schools.
“Today is a sad day in this province. A tragic accident has taken the lives of several young learners, with others receiving intensive care in hospital. We have been informed the learners were travelling in the back of a bakkie.”
The bakkie reportedly crashed into a traffic robot.
"The learners are from several schools in the area. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and the school communities. This is an unimaginable tragedy. Our thoughts are also with the learners currently being treated in hospital," said Maynier.
ANC MPL for Education Khalid Sayed, having visited Wespoort Primary School, said: “Wespoort Primary is one of the schools in which one of the five learners were killed. This is a really tragic incident that happened but very importantly as lawmakers, and we’ll raise this in legislature, to sharply express our concern that the education department in the province and department of transport needs to get to the bottom of this.
“They need to ensure that transport which is not necessarily compliant, must not be transporting our learners.”
Police confirmed a case of culpable homicide had been opened for investigation.
ER24 spokesperson, Russel Meiring, said when medics arrived on the scene, they found the bakkie upright in the middle of the road.
“Several children believed to be aged between 13 and 16 were seen scattered some distance away from the bakkie. Medics assessed the children and found five had already succumbed to their numerous injuries while a sixth was in critical condition with numerous injuries. Paramedics treated the critical patient and provided him with numerous advanced life support interventions before he was transported to a nearby hospital for urgent care.“
Cape Times