Horror crash Wits students recover

WITS University last night confirmed that the students who survived a horror car crash on the N1 next to the Nyl Plaza near Mokopane, Limpopo, at the weekend, were recovering well in hospital.

“They suffered injuries mainly on their limbs and are not unconscious,” Wits spokeswoman Shirona Patel told Sowetan.

The accident happened when a Toyota Quantum hit the rear of an overturned trailer of a tractor on Sunday, claiming the lives of seven Wits students and other two people and injuring six. The trailer was not visible and in a roadway.

Limpopo traffic department spokeswoman Kagiso Mootane said a driver and seven passengers were burned inside the taxi while the body of another passenger was found outside with the head cut off.

The students were from a prayer meeting in Limpopo.

The injured students were visited at the Voortrekker Hos- pital in Mokopane yesterday by provincial health MEC Phophi Ramathuba and a delegation from the university, which included vice-chancellor Professor Adam Habib.

“The delegation is there to try to see what we can do for the injured and the deceased’s families, ” Patel said.

“The delegation and the vicechancellor met with the families of some of the deceased. We are flying flags at half-mast in honour of those who passed on. We will also have a memorial service for the deceased but after we get the go-ahead from the families because we have to take the lead from them in what we do.”

Habib described the death of the students as a “huge tragedy ” that cut deep for the university.

He said some of the students were studying medicine, soft- ware engineering and actuarial science.

Habib said the lives of the students had been cut at a young age. He also said one of the student’s parent was a staff member at the university.

“... Our university has thousands of students but it’s a tragedy when you lose one student, but when you lose so many children at one go and have six in hospital one’s heart breaks. The entire university is in mourning,” said Habib.

Student representative council (SRC) secretary general Fasiha Hassan said the news came as a shock especially because the accident happened when students were preparing for exams.

Hassan said it was even more difficult to accept that the students met their untimely death from a pilgrimage.

“We knew quite a few of the students and it’s sad that Wits students have become victims of carnage on the road. We plead that people must drive carefully on the road,” said Hassan, adding that the SRC would meet the families and see how they can assist.

“… When you lose so many children at one go one’s heart breaks