Agonising wait to ID 18 kids
‘The funeral committee will tell us whether this will be a mass funeral’
PRETORIA: Families of pupils and two adults burnt beyond recognition in the fiery taxi crash outside Bronkhorstspruit last Friday will have to wait for up to a week to identity their loved ones.
The Verena families and community-at-large learned of this during a public meeting yesterday in the aftermath of the tragic accident. The meeting was addressed by a high-level team of government officials, among them Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, who told them the DNA results would only be available after a week. Lesufi was accompanied by officials from Mpumalanga.
Both Mpumalanga and Gauteng authorities vowed to work together to assist the 15 families who lost loved ones in the accident.
A taxi transporting the pupils of two schools smashed into a truck as it took them home.
The taxi burst into flames and, despite onlookers, police and paramedics working hard to rescue the occupants, only seven were pulled out. The accident happened on the R25 Groblersdal Road.
Police said the taxi driver, who also perished in the blaze, could have miscalculated speed and distance and tried to beat the truck to a turn-off.
Lesufi said all bodies were accounted for and were at the state mortuary.
He said families needed to do DNA tests in order for funerals arrangements to continue. “We need to attend to the issue of DNA tests because, without them, it will be very difficult to arrange a funeral,” he said.
Lesufi said they had received a report that, out of the 20 bodies, only one body could be identified while 19 had to go through the DNA process.
“From the report we have received, at most this process will last for a week… and only after a week can we get results and be in a position to deal with other issues,” he said.
He pleaded with the families to co-operate with officials dealing with the DNA tests.
“We will also support all pupils that were injured. We are committing ourselves as government to give all the relevant support that is needed,” Lesufi said.
The support included current and future medical costs, counselling services and support in terms of school work.
Owing to school books and uniforms being burnt, they (government) committed to immediately assist so that pupils could continue with their studies.
“As part of our support, tomorrow (today) we will visit both schools in Sokhulumi village, announce the news at assembly in the morning and offer counselling for all pupils,” he said yesterday.
Both governments also arranged a funeral committee to look into the immediate needs of all the families.
Lesufi said the committee would co-ordinate all matters related to both the funeral and memorial services, receive reports from authorities and brief families of progress.
He said the funeral committee would be the one to decide on a funeral date.
“They will be the ones to tell us whether this will be a mass funeral, or if each family will have their own; but that will only happen after they have consulted with all family members,” he said.
The collaboration between the two provincial governments was due to the fact that pupils attended schools in Gauteng, but lived in Mpumalanga where the accident also happened. Post-traumatic counselling services have already been given to 13 families and others were yet to receive counselling.
Of the seven survivors, four pupils were taken to KwaMhlanga Hospital, two to Life Cosmos Hospital and one to Life Wilgers hospital in Pretoria.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, Panyaza and other government officials are expected to visit both schools this morning.