Road accidents kill 15, injure 33 in S. Africa

A total of 15 people were killed and 33 injured in two separate road accidents in South Africa on Saturday.

The SAPA news agency reported that eight people were killed and 30 were injured, 18 seriously, when a bus overturned in the Eastern Cape Province on Saturday.

The accident happened after a tyre burst on the vehicle transporting 72 passengers from Cape Town, which caused the driver to lose control.

The driver escaped the accident uninjured, but eight passengers, including three children, were killed.

On the same day, a family of six -- including a baby -- died in a head-on collision between their car and a bakkie in Mpumalanga Province.

A man in the bakkie also died and three people were critically injured. They were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

The report said both vehicles were trying to avoid a truck that was trying to overtake another truck across a barrier line.

The driver of the truck has been arrested and charged with seven counts of culpable homicide and reckless and negligent driving.

The accidents happened following South African traffic authorities' repeated calls for road safety as people start to take road trips for holiday. More than 400 people have been killed in road accidents since Dec. 1, the Department of Traffic said on Friday.

Source: Xinhua