Twenty people were killed and around 60 others injured in South Africa in a collision between a bus and an armored van, the transport department of the province of Limpopo (north) said on Tuesday.
“Twenty people were tragically killed in an accident when a cash-in-transit truck lost control and collided head-on with an oncoming bus,” the Department of Transportation said in a statement.
The accident occurred around 3 p.m. GMT on Monday on a national road in Limpopo, a province in the far north of the country, on the border with Zimbabwe.
About 60 people were injured, 10 of them seriously. They were taken to hospital.
A police dive team is currently searching a river below the road for ‘persons who may have been swept away’ by the waters.
The cause of the violent accident has not yet been determined, but “the region was affected by heavy rains”, told AFP the spokesperson for the department of Transport, Tidimalo Chuene.
South Africa has been hit for several days by rains that have caused flooding in several provinces. At least seven people were killed, several are missing. The government has declared a state of national disaster.
Rains must still fall on the country in the middle of the southern summer for several days, according to the national institute of weather forecasts, which warns of new risks of flooding.
In 2022, the country experienced the worst flooding in its history in the Durban region (southeast), killing more than 400 people and causing significant destruction.
South Africa has one of the most developed road networks on the continent but is among the worst performers in terms of road safety.