Girl, 8, sole survivor of Limpopo bus tragedy, ‘thrown out the window’
THE 8-year-old sole survivor of the Limpopo bus crash in which 45 Botswana nationals died is on her way home to Botswana.
A Grade 2 learner Lorraine Atlang Siako was escorted by several medical workers and government officials as she arrived at Polokwane International Airport to catch an hour-long connecting flight to OR Tambo International Airport yesterday.
From Johannesburg, Siako and her mother were scheduled to catch the flight to Botswana, where they live.
Siako was the only survivor when tragedy struck near Mamatlakala in Limpopo last Thursday evening after a bus ferrying Botswana nationals careened out of control, killing 45 people.
The ill-fated bus was transporting Botswana citizens from the capital Gaborone to the popular Saint Engenas Zion Christian Church (ZCC) for the annual Easter service attended by throngs of people from different parts of the world.
Speaking to broadcaster eNCA, Limpopo MEC for Health, Phophi Ramathuba, said the girl underwent an operation in Limpopo and was given the green light to travel back home.
“(Tuesday), when she had fully recovered and her wounds were satisfactory, such that we could discharge her, when I had a conversation with her, she could now start narrating what she remembered – the bus speeding.
“I am sure it was the time the driver was trying to negotiate on the road.
“All she remembers is that she was carried and then thrown out through the window.
“The grandmother here probably sacrificed her life and saved her granddaughter,” Ramathuba said.
“This is a very intelligent child who is beginning to remember.
“It is just unfortunate that she said after that (being thrown out of the moving bus) she blacked out and she remembers when she was with us at the hospital.”
When she gained consciousness, Siako managed to recite her mother’s phone numbers in Botswana and her parent was contacted.
“You can see this is a very smart, and very special child,” said Ramathuba.
At the time of the crash, the firstborn child was travelling with her grandmother to the ZCC’s Moria enclave in Limpopo.
The grandmother and all other passengers perished.
According to preliminary reports, the driver lost control of the bus, causing it to collide with barriers on a bridge. This caused the bus to plunge over the edge and catch fire upon impact with the ground.