60 die when May Day bus plunges into reservoir

More than 60 people drowned today when a bus taking them to a South African May Day rally took a wrong turning and plunged into a reservoir.

The bus was later hauled out of the reservoir where police officer said the number of dead inside could not be immediately confirmed. The bus was carrying about 90 people.

An official of the ruling African National Congress said 63 people had died.

Ten survivors, one of them a woman, were pulled from the reservoir outside the town of Bethlehem in the centre of the country, and were released after receiving hospital treatment.

“The chances of finding anybody alive now are slim,” said police superintendent Sam Sesing.

The bus was carrying members of South Africa’s largest trade union to a May Day celebration when the driver apparently lost his way and ended up driving down a gravel path that led to the reservoir.

“I am utterly shocked. I don’t know what to say,” said Patrick Craven, a spokesman for the Congress of South African Trade Unions spokesman.

President Thabo Mbeki observed a minute of silence for the victims at a May Day rally in Johannesburg.

Acting Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said he was shocked and saddened by the accident.

“As an individual I pray for them, as a nation we continue to share our sympathy and sadness in this trying time” he said.

More than 9,000 people in this country of 40 million are killed annually on the roads.

Drinking, corrupt traffic police officers taking bribes instead of issuing tickets, and unroadworthy vehicles are some of the reasons given for the unusually high death toll, officials say.