LOUIS TRICHARDT A Harare-bound Latias Transport bus en route from Johannesburg caught fire six kilometres before Louis Trichardt in Limpopo Province on Thursday. The cause of the fire could not be immediately established. (Pictured The first burnt-out bus)Fortunately all passengers and crew were able to disembark before the bus was engulfed in flames. Although there were no casualties, passengers lost all their luggage that was inside the bus. Only the goods in the trailer were saved when the crew quickly disengaged the trailer from the bus. Some of them also lost their travel documents.
A South African-based Zimbabwean voluntary pressure group, the Zimbabwe Voters Democratic Rights (ZDVR) promptly sent its members to the accident scene to assist the stranded passengers. ZDVR director Gift Eglone and his deputy Dumapi Tutani organized food and water and contacted the bus owner.
Alternative transport was arranged to pick up the passengers from the accident scene to Harare. Assistance was sought from the local Makhado Police to issue affidavits to passengers whose travelling documents had been destroyed, so that they could cross the border easily. By dusk, an alternative bus company had picked up them up.
However, as the replacement bus negotiated the mountain range just outside Louis Trichardt, it also caught fire. Disaster was averted by the prompt response by the Makhado Fire Department, who quelled the flames before the bus was completely destroyed. They also towed the bus away from the hazardous mountain pass to avoid more accidents occurring. Stunned at their double bad luck, the beleaguered passengers were forced to hitch hike to the border.
Post published in: News