A bus with 46 Christians on board veered off a bridge in the mountains of South Africa on Thursday, plunging almost two hundred feet and killing everyone on board with the exception of an eight-year-old girl who miraculously survived.
The bus was on its way to an Easter festival when the crash occurred.
According to South Africa’s transportation ministry, the bus had Botswana plates and was towing a trailer. It was traveling from Botswana to the town of Moria in South Africa’s Limpopo province when the driver lost control and plunged off the bridge, which winds through a mountain pass about 190 miles north of Johannesburg.
Moria is the headquarters of the Zionist Christian Church, which hosts a popular Easter gathering in an area known as Zion City. The Zionist Christian Church is among the largest denominations in Africa and its fall and Easter festivals are the largest Christian gatherings in South Africa.
The busload of Easter worshipers came from St. Engenas Zion Christian Church in Molepolole, Botswana, a village located about an hour from the national capital of Gaborone. A church elder said the congregation has visited Moria many times but had never used this particular road through the mountains before.
South Africa is notorious for driving accidents during the Easter holiday season. Over 250 fatalities were recorded over the four-day Easter weekend in 2023. The bridge where the accident occurred curves sharply and has minimal guard rails.
The bus caught fire after impacting the rocky ground below the bridge, causing some of the bodies to be burned beyond recognition. Rescue workers labored through the evening on Thursday to recover other remains from the debris.
One amazing rescue was reported: an eight-year-old girl who survived the crash with relatively minor injuries, including lacerations across much of her body. Provincial officials said they had no idea how she was able to survive. She was reportedly traveling in the company of her grandmother, who died in the crash.
“All we can say is that we are happy that she was found alive,” said a spokesman for the Limpopo health department.
Police are reportedly investigating the incident as “culpable homicide,” but provided no further details of the charges as of Friday morning.
“It is alleged that the driver lost control, colliding with barriers on the bridge causing the bus to go over the bridge and hitting the ground, where it caught fire,” a statement from the South African government said.
South African Transportation Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga and President Cyril Ramaphosa extended condolences to the families of the victims.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time. We continue to urge responsible driving at all times with heightened alertness as more people are on our roads this Easter weekend,” Chikunga said.
“Let’s do our best to make this a safe Easter. Easter does not have to be a time where we sit back and wait to see statistics on tragedy or injuries on our roads,” said Ramaphosa.
“It’s a catastrophe. We are badly affected by what happened, especially that people were going to enjoy themselves in the Lord,” said Lemogang Kwape, foreign minister of heavily Christian Botswana.
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