Bloody weekend as 17 die on Limpopo roads

The leap year weekend on Limpopo’s roads turned bloody when three fatal accidents claimed the lives of 17 people and left six critically injured.
Transport and Community Safety MEC Dickson Masemola extended his heartfelt condolences to the families of the 17 victims and wished a speedy recovery to the survivors of the accidents on the R25 at Moutse, the N1 near Ysterberg and the N1 near Beit Bridge.
According to Provincial Police Communications Head Motlafela Mojapelo five persons, including a child, were burnt beyond recognition after an accident between two vehicles on the N1 at Ysterberg on Saturday afternoon.

Mojapelo indicated that a Datsun Go with six occupants was travelling towards Mokopane when it reportedly experienced a puncture, swerved into the opposite lane and collided head-on with a Toyota Yaris. The Datsun burst into flames upon impact and one of the occupants managed to escape with critical injuries while the other five occupants perished in the blaze.
The Toyota’s single occupant suffered serious injuries and was taken to a local hospital.
In an accident on Sunday evening seven people lost their lives when a Toyota Fortuner smashed into the side of a truck on the N1 between Musina and Beit Bridge.
The truck had reportedly just moved from the truck stop premises onto the N1 when the Fortuner rammed into its trailer. Emergency personnel had to remove the deceased from the wreckage of the vehicle that was trapped under the truck. A case of culpable homicide is being investigated, according to Mojapelo.
The process of identifying the deceased, among them a two-year-old boy, has already begun, he added.
No information was available about the accident at Moutse during which five people were reportedly killed.

Story: RC Myburgh
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