At least 42 people have been killed after a bus left a steep mountain road and plunged down an embankment on the N1 highway near the town of Makhado in South Africa’s Limpopo province on Sunday evening. 

The vehicle came to rest upside down as emergency crews worked through the night to extract victims and rush survivors to nearby hospitals.

More than 30 injured passengers received treatment, and authorities warned that some people might still be trapped in the wreckage. Public broadcaster SABC said the dead included 18 women, 17 men and seven children. A 10-month-old baby was among the victims, provincial transport official Violet Mathy told Newzroom Afrika.

The N1—a key route linking South Africa with Zimbabwe—remained closed in both directions on Monday while rescue operations continued. Limpopo Premier Phophi Ramathuba visited the site before meeting survivors in hospital, offering condolences to families in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Malawi, and saying the scale of loss was “painful beyond words.”

Officials have launched an investigation into the cause of the crash, with early assessments pointing to driver fatigue or a mechanical failure. The provincial government said it is providing counselling to survivors and coordinating with Zimbabwean and Malawian diplomatic missions to assist bereaved families.

South Africa’s highways rank among the world’s deadliest, with thousands of road fatalities each year. Long-distance buses carrying migrant workers across Southern Africa are frequently involved in serious accidents.

Source: Al Jazeera 

SMS/