Limpopo bus crash victims’ bodies repatriated to Botswana
Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba said there was a collective effort from authorities in ensuring the identification and preparing for the repatriation of the victims’ remains.
POLOKWANE – Tuesday morning was an evidently emotional one for those who gathered at the Polokwane International Airport hall for the memorial service of the 45 victims of a bus crash at a bridge near Mamatlakala in Mokopane on the eve of the Easter Weekend.
The Limpopo Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba will lead the repatriation process of the remains of 45 Botswana citizens, who lost their lives in a horror bus crash on March 28, at the Polokwane International Airport this morning. The bodies were identified through a DNA process. pic.twitter.com/3kWpLu4KC4
— Polokwane Observer (@PolokwaneObserv) April 30, 2024
The victims’ remains were handed over to the Botswana government for repatriation through the airport after the memorial service led by Health and Social Development MECs Dr Phophi Ramathuba and Nandi Ndalane, Capricorn Mayor Mamedupi Teffo and provincial police commissioner Lt Gen Thembi Hadebe among others.
An eight-year-old girl was the sole survivor of the incident, and has already been reunited with her family in Botswana.
Ramathuba said there was a collective effort from authorities in ensuring the identification and preparing for the repatriation of the victims’ remains.
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“The police’s victim identification unit, the biology section of the forensic science laboratory unit, forensic pathology services and their Botswana counterparts worked tirelessly since the day of the accident to recover and positively identify the human remains through DNA processes. It has been a long, tiring and equally traumatising journey for the team, but we are comforted by the fact that the families will finally find closure,” Ramathuba said.
