Pretoria - More than 40 children between the ages seven and 13 were injured when an overloaded taxi transporting them to school hit a stationary van near Verulam, Durban on Wednesday.
Reaction Unit South Africa (Rusa) spokesperson Prem Balram said a Toyota Hilux bakkie was travelling in the direction of Verulam when it stopped in the emergency lane to contact authorities about a pedestrian who was killed in a hit and run accident.
“A white minibus taxi transporting 44 children to Acacia Primary School in Trenance Park, collided into the rear of the stationary Toyota Hilux bakkie.
“The overloaded minibus veered into the oncoming lane and struck a pedestrian before it came to a stop,’’ he said.
Balram said a seven-year-old girl was critically injured and transported to hospital.
“The remaining children and the injured pedestrian were transported to hospital by ambulance,” Balram added.
He said the deceased pedestrian has not yet been identified.
In a similar accident last month, five children being transported to school in Mitchells Plain were killed in a crash along A Z Berman Drive.
Motorists and passers-by witnessed the children being flung from a bakkie.
Provincial police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg said a case of culpable homicide was being investigated.
“Mitchells Plain police registered a culpable homicide case for investigation following a fatal crash which claimed the lives of five children in A Z Berman Drive, Mitchells Plain this morning at about 7.30am.
“The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation,” Twigg said at the time.
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