Tamuka bus crash latest: bodies identified, repatriation process underway

Thupeyo Muleya from the Beitbridge office

Ten people died on Tuesday when the Mzansi Express bus they were travelling on from Bulawayo overturned near the town of Makhado in Limpopo province.
A total of 35 people were injured.

A second incident occurred on Sunday in the same province, near the town of Mokopane, where five other Zimbabweans were killed.
Consul General Mr. Eria Phiri on Monday visited the accident site in Mokpane and then went to hospitals to meet the injured.
“The Tamuka Coaches bus was carrying 58 passengers and four crew members,” Mr Phiri said.

“He had an accident 8km before the Mokopane tollgate in Limpopo Province. Five people died at the scene of the accident, including the driver.”
He added that 10 injured passengers were admitted to Mokopane Hospital, where six of them received medical attention and were discharged.
“Two other people (one woman and one man) are still admitted and out of the 10 patients, two have requested to be transferred to a medical facility in Johannesburg, located near relatives, and this request has been granted by the hospital authorities,” the Consul General said.

The rest, who were uninjured, continued their journey to Zimbabwe.
Voortrekker Hospital admitted 24 people, all of whom were treated and discharged home.
The Consul General confirmed that out of the five bodies, four have been positively identified by relatives, while the body of one man has not yet been identified. The processes of repatriating the bodies of the four deceased have already been initiated.

He added that they expected most of the Makhado disaster victims to be repatriated to Zimbabwe and buried by Friday.
The body of Kudzai Ncube, who was shot dead by a commercial farmer who dumped her remains in a pigsty, was repatriated and buried in Gokwe North in the Manoti area on Monday evening.