South Africa: Bus crash in Meyerton kills 19, injures 55
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — A bus crash in South Africa has killed at least 19 people and injured 55.
The Putco bus plunged off a bridge in the small town of Meyerton, about 30 miles south of Johannesburg, paramedics said Monday.
The driver apparently lost control of the bus, which then crashed through barriers and fell 20-30 feet into a ravine, the South African Press Association reported.
The death toll is expected to rise, with 21 people hospitalized, three of them in critical condition.
ER24 spokeswoman Vanessa Jackson told SAPA the bus was carrying 71 people of "working age."
It took rescue workers more than five hours to free people from the wreckage, before the bus was lifted by crane from the scene.
Eyewitness News said police lined up body bags along the side of the road.
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