Bethlehem bus crash
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The Bethlehem bus crash was one of the worst vehicle accidents of all time, when a coach drove into a reservoir near the town of Bethlehem, South Africa, killing 80 passengers on the 1 May 2003.
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[edit] Overview
The bus was transporting 90 trade union delegates to May Day celebrations in the town of Bethlehem in the Free State, when the driver became disorientated in the dark. Hopelessly lost, he appears to have turned accidentally onto an unlit gravel path, which led to a precipice on the Saulspoort Dam over looking the reservoir. The driver was apparently travelling much too fast to stop when the bus careened off the edge, falling into the water below.
The remote location of the accident, combined with the old bus's inadequate safety provisions meant that just ten people escaped the vehicle alive, all of them injured in the crash. The bus sank rapidly following impact with the water, and 80 people were dragged down with it, trapped inside the vehicle. Police did not arrive until the following morning after being notified by survivors, but were only able to recover the bodies of the dead and retrieve the bus as part of their investigation of the tragedy.
[edit] Aftermath
President Thabo Mbeki held a minutes silence for the dead at his May Day speech the following day, and the dead were buried together in a mass funeral at Weseinde cemetery in Kimberley. The cause of the crash was believed to be negligence on the driver's part, in his failure to prepare a route through a hazardous area, which was compunded by a lack of signs and gates on the dam's access roads. The bus too was an old model, and did not possess efficient emergency exits or safety equipment, as well as suffering from poor brakes, which may have conrtributed to the disaster.
