A survivor of Saturday’s bus accident on the N2 between Mossel Bay and Voorbaai said that the driver had complained about fatigue as she boarded. The crash left six dead and about 32 others injured.
Also read: Lanes reopened after fatal bus accident between Mossel Bay and Voorbaai
Speaking to TimesLIVE, Iphithule Sigola said that she still couldn’t believe she had survived the fatal crash, especially after one of the victims died in her arms.
Sigola boarded the InterCape bus from the Monument garage at about 8.30pm when the driver complained of fatigue.
‘The driver expressed he was tired and had some complaints about the bus,’ she recalled to the publication. ‘I can’t recall exactly what he said was wrong with the bus. We took off. Everything was fine … until Mossel Bay… That was when I woke up,’ she said.
Sigola said that she and other passengers became concerned as the bus swerved into oncoming traffic and noticed that the driver seemed to be asleep.
I will never forget this traumatic experience I still don’t know how I survived after everyone who was next to me passed on ?? two people died before me one in my arms ??? #CPUT pic.twitter.com/Rq1wFUl3e2
— Iphithule-inkosi ? (@ncmsl_qaluyiva) May 13, 2023
‘Everyone was like “driver, what’s going on?” Someone said the driver was sleeping. They tapped him to show him that there is a bus coming at a high speed in front of us, but I don’t think he woke up …’ she said.
‘I was maybe in the third seat from the driver and I remember someone actually tried to lunge and tap him to wake up, but then it was too late. Everything happened so fast and the crash happened. Everyone was trying to alert him to what was going on. This happened in seconds, and before we knew it the crash happened,’ Sigola said.
‘Immediately when it happened, I was just praying that nothing happens to me, and when I saw that the bus has come to a stop, I immediately tried to rush out, but there was a lot of commotion because the door wouldn’t open. The next thing, I broke a window and jumped out quickly. There were some men also jumping out.’
‘The first thing, I got into fight mode because there were babies that were also in the bus with their parents so we were trying to first get the babies out and everyone else that could be taken to get out. I think I only registered [what had happened] when everyone was out of the bus and we were just taking everything in. That is when I started crying,’ Sigola said.
While police and paramedics responded and rushed to the scene, it was too late for several of the victims, including an elderly woman who died in Sigola’s arms.
‘I think when the crash happened, the impact threw her to the ground. Her legs were facing different directions.’
‘She was crying. She was in pain. We were waiting for paramedics to arrive. They arrived and they saw that she was bleeding so they tried to help her. She just started praying and I was praying with her and she went quiet. The paramedics came and took her — they pronounced her dead at that scene, and they took a blanket to cover her,’ she said.
According to Sigola, who sustained a few bruises and injuries to her hand, the woman took her last breath while praying.
‘It was a foreign language, but I could hear her say “God” when she was praying,’ she said.
She added that graphic images of the accident were ingrained in her mind.
‘A head snapped and went flying in the air. There were people’s fingers and there was a lot going on because it was two buses, and I believe in our bus there was 64 of us. That other bus I believe had the most impact even though our bus was the one in the wrong,’ Sigola said.
Meanwhile, TimesLive reports that Western Cape MEC for mobility Ricardo Mackenzie said forensic pathology services would verify all fatalities, adding that a team of experts was investigating the incident.
‘I have instructed my team to provide any support we can to aid the investigation. I will not sit idly while people making use of public transport are added to a list of vulnerable road users. I call on the various structures to expedite their investigation,’ said Mackenzie.
Preliminary reports suggested one bus took an incorrect turn-off and moved into oncoming traffic, according to Mackenzie.
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Picture: Grant de Vos