One dead, twenty injured in South Africa bus-taxi crash

One dead, twenty injured in South Africa bus-taxi crash

2010-12-20 17:15:43 GMT+7 (ICT)

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA (BNO NEWS) -- One person was killed on Monday and twenty others were injured when a fully-laden minibus taxi slammed into a passenger bus on the N1 highway in South Africa, officials said.

Netcare 911 spokesman Jeffrey Wicks said the accident happened on the N1 in Wynburg, a southern suburb of Cape Town in Western Cape. He said it is believed the taxi slammed into the rear of the bus which was stationary at the roadside.

"Netcare 911 Paramedics arrived at the scene to find five critically injured taxi occupants heavily entrapped in the mangled wreckage of the vehicle which was still wedged against the bus," Wicks said. "With the assistance of the firefighters and rescue technicians, the injured were cut free from the wreckage while medics worked fervently to stabilize them."

Wicks said another person was killed while 15 others were taken to area hospitals with less severe injuries. All passengers on the bus were able to exit the vehicle uninjured.

The South African Police Force will investigate the cause of the accident.

Taxi accidents happen frequently in South Africa, often resulting in mass casualties as taxis carry many passengers. Earlier this month, six people were killed and others were seriously injured when a truck crushed a taxi that had just been in an accident.

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