Child among 11 killed after truck and minibus crash | World | News

A collision involving a minibus taxi and a truck killed at least 11 people in South Africa on Thursday, a local government official and emergency services said. The crash happened near the city of Durban, in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province. Provincial transport department official Siboniso Duma said in a statement that 11 people, including a schoolchild, died at the scene, although that was according to preliminary information.

«Witnesses have alleged that the truck driver made a U-turn resulting in a head-on collision,» Duma said. Garrith Jamieson, spokesperson for the private paramedic service ALS Paramedics, told the Associated Press that several people were critically injured, including the driver of the minibus, who was trapped in the wreckage. 

The fatal collision came days after a deadly head-on crash between a truck and a minibus taxi being used to transport schoolchildren.

On Thursday, South African Transport Minister Barbara Creecy expressed «serious concerns» about the continuous rise in traffic fatalities caused by crashes involving public transportation.

She instructed the country’s Road Traffic Management Corporation, which is responsible for organising road traffic regulation, enforcement and strategic planning, to collaborate with local authorities to investigate the cause of the most recent collision.

Minibus taxis are the preferred method of public transport for most South Africans to get to and from work, with estimates that they are used by approximately 70% of commuters.

Africa has a wider problem with road safety, and crashes kill about 300,000 people annually, about a quarter of the global toll.

Africa has the world’s highest road traffic fatality rate at 26.6 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with a global average of about 18, according to the UN Economic Commission for Africa. This is despite the continent of 1.5 billion people accounting for just about 3% of the global vehicle population.