School bus overturns near Koubad Farm

SHORTLY after 8:00am on the morning of February 5, a school bus from Emondlo Bus Services overturned on the Natal Spa road between Vryheid and Paulpietersburg in the Zululand district of KwaZulu Natal.

The bus was travelling in the direction of Vryheid, near Koubad Farm, when it veered off the road, down a grass embankment and overturned, landing on its side.

KZN Emergency Medical Services responded swiftly and several ambulances, a patient transport bus and an advanced life support paramedic from KZN Emergency Medical Services were dispatched to the accident.

Local emergency services and private ambulance services in the area also responded to the accident.

When the first responding paramedics arrived on scene, they triaged between 64 and 70 patients at the scene and started treating the patients for the various injuries they had sustained during the accident.

Eleven of the patients sustained serious injuries and the remaining patients sustained minor injuries. The patients were treated on scene by the paramedics before being transported to Dumbe and Vryheid hospitals for continued care.

Due to the large number of patients, children from preschool age to Grade 12, the patient transport bus even had to make a return trip to the scene to transport all the patients to hospital.

According to officers at the scene of the accident, the driver of the bus was uninjured, but was taken to Paulpietersburg Police Station for his own safety.

The cause of the accident is being investigated by the police.