At least five children have died and about twenty others were seriously injured in a collision at a railway level crossing in Middelburg, a town roughly 180 kilometers northeast of Johannesburg. The incident involved a freight train and a school bus, shocking a community and prompting immediate responses from national authorities.
South Africa’s Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy, along with the deputy minister, Mjhuleko Hlengwa, expressed their heartfelt condolences to the families of the five children who lost their lives in this deadly crash. They also wished a swift recovery to the injured survivors and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to addressing road safety, particularly in the context of student transport.
The authorities reported that the bus driver fled the scene after the impact. An official statement from the transport ministry noted that the train crew did not suffer any injuries. Investigators are examining the circumstances surrounding the collision as part of the ongoing inquiry into the incident.
Creecy and Hlengwa appealed to the national security agencies to step up road safety campaigns related to school transportation. They highlighted that this accident marks the second major incident this month involving a vehicle used to transport school learners, underscoring a pressing need for enhanced safety measures and stricter enforcement at level crossings.
Earlier in July, a separate tragedy occurred when a school bus carrying students collided with a pickup truck, resulting in twelve student fatalities. The crash also left several other students injured, and the bus driver perished in the incident. Officials have stressed the importance of comprehensive safety protocols for school transport and the continual evaluation of crossing protections to prevent such losses of life in the future.