ENTOKOZWENI, SOUTH AFRICA (BNO NEWS) — Seven people were killed on early Monday morning when an overloaded taxi overturned in the eastern region of South Africa, emergency officials said. Several other passengers were seriously injured.
The accident occurred early Monday morning at around 6:30 a.m. local time on a road near eNtokozweni, which is better known by the former name Machadodorp, in the eastern province of Mpumalanga. It happened when the driver lost control of the vehicle.
The taxi, which reportedly had Mozambican license plates, was carrying 23 people in addition to the driver, provincial community safety department spokesman Joseph Mabuza told the Citizen newspaper. At a curve on Schoemanskloof road, the driver lost control and overturned several times.
“Seven people were killed and fourteen were injured in a taxi accident on Schoemanskloof Road near Machadadorp,” said Jeffrey Wicks, a spokesman for Netcare 911. Ten of them were reported to be in a critical condition while the others suffered only minor injuries, local media reported.
Roads in South Africa are considered to be among the world’s most dangerous, with more than 13,000 people killed every year. Many accidents are attributed to reckless driving and the poor maintenance of buses and taxis.
