Honouring the heroes of the 1985 Westdene bus disaster

The Westdene memorial website remembers all the citizens who tried to save as many children as possible from a watery death:

Woltemade Cross for Bravery, Gold

• Petrus Lucas Koen received the Wolraad Woltemade award posthumously. The 17 year old drowned after rescuing his cousin and five fellow school pupils.
• Daniel Sarel du Toit, aged 14, dived back into the water three times and saved three lives.
• Alfred Mahner, who drove to the site, jumped into the water and helped several children to safety and assisted the fire brigade to attach cables to the bus.
• Gotlieb Rudolf Opperman, aged 15, was rescued in an unconscious condition from the bus after jumping back into the water three times to rescue children.
• Petrus Johannes Joubert Scheepers helped children struggling to stay above the water to get onto the roof of the bus. He then swam into the bus and helped a girl to the surface. He returned twice to look for more children and later nearly lost consciousness and had to be helped out of the water by a bystander.

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Woltemade Decoration for Bravery, Silver

• William RobertAlexander – rescued children.
• Johannes Jurgens Botha – rescued children.
• Izak Zierk Bouwer – rescued children.
• James McKenzie Brodie – rescued children.
• Bernadus Theodorus de Kooker, aged 17 – rescued fellow pupils.
• John James Gordon, aged 15 – rescued fellow pupils.
• Ockert Machiel Jansen van Nieuwenhuizen – rescued children.
• Dirk Johannes Lourens – rescued children.
• Kenneth Roy Nell – rescued children.
• Adriaan Christiaan Roelofse – rescued children.
• Lucas Schuman – rescued children.
• Petrus Jacobus Steyn – rescued children.
• Christiaan Jacobus Swanepoel – rescued children.
• Willem Herklaas van Aswegen, aged 14 – rescued fellow pupils.
• Gert Albertus van der Walt – rescued children.
• Catrina Jacoba van Deventer, aged 17 – rescued fellow pupils.
• Martin Ernest van Lelyveld, aged 17 – rescued fellow pupils.
• Stephanus Johannes van Wyk, aged 17 – rescued fellow pupils.
• Coenraad Rudolf Viljoen, aged 15 – rescued fellow pupils.
• Petrus Gerhardus Waldeck, aged 14 – rescued fellow pupils.
• Matthys Louis Wehmeyer, aged 17 – rescued fellow pupils.

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