News / Regional
Mass funeral for 9 Botswana accident victims
16 Jan 2015 at 08:49hrs | Views
THERE will be a mass funeral service for nine of the 11 people who died in a road accident involving a Ford Ranger truck in Botswana who will be buried on the same day.
The 18 people, all from Tsholotsho district in Matabeleland North, were travelling in a truck not a minibus as earlier reported.
Tsholotsho District Administrator, Nosizi Dube, said a mass funeral service has been organised for the accident victims since they were from the same area.
All the 11 bodies are expected to be repatriated from the neighbouring country on Sunday.
Dube said arrangements for the burial had been finalised and they were awaiting the arrival of the bodies.
She said the Civil Protection Unit together with the Social Services Department would travel to the Plumtree Border Post to receive the bodies.
"We expect the bodies to be repatriated on Sunday but we are yet to receive confirmation from the Botswana officials. Most of the dead did not not have travel documents such as passports which is causing the delays," she said.
Dube said a big tent would be pitched at Malila Line in Ward 16 where mourners would be gathered for a mass funeral.
She said thereafter they would move from one household to the other where the burial of each body would be conducted.
The DA said the mass funeral service and simultaneous burial was ideal because the accident victims were related.
Meanwhile, two of the remaining accident victims have been identified as seven-year and eight-year old children from Matjinge area in Bulilima.
The two minors who are from Bilingoma area under Headman Muyengwa were travelling with their mother, Isabel Ngwenya who escaped with severe injuries.
The siblings Nokubonga Gumbo, 8, and Ndodana Gumbo, 7, were identified by their uncle, Maqhawe Gumbo who works in Francistown, Botswana.
Gumbo said the two children would be buried at their home area in Bulilima.
The grandmother of the two children, Angel Kwelekwele Gumbo said her grandchildren were on their way to South Africa where they were attending school.
She said the children were in Tsholotsho for the Christmas holidays.
"My daughter-in-law was staying with her two children in South Africa and that is where they were attending school. They left here on Saturday morning heading for South Africa and the next thing I heard was that my grandchildren were involved in an accident," she said.
Seven of the 18 passengers escaped with severe injuries. The South Africa bound Ford Ranger hit a donkey and then rammed into a tree last Sunday and 11 of the passengers died on the spot.
The accident occurred along the Palapye-Martins Drift Road in the neighbouring country.
According to Botswana Police, only the driver had a passport - suggesting all his 17 passengers were illegal immigrants. The injured are admitted at Princess Marina and Mahalapye Hospitals while the bodies of the deceased are at Mahalapye Hospital mortuary.
Eight of the victims are from Malilia Village, Ward 16 area in Tsholotsho under Chief Gampu while the other is from Malanda Village in Ward 14 area in Tsholotsho.
The 18 people, all from Tsholotsho district in Matabeleland North, were travelling in a truck not a minibus as earlier reported.
Tsholotsho District Administrator, Nosizi Dube, said a mass funeral service has been organised for the accident victims since they were from the same area.
All the 11 bodies are expected to be repatriated from the neighbouring country on Sunday.
Dube said arrangements for the burial had been finalised and they were awaiting the arrival of the bodies.
She said the Civil Protection Unit together with the Social Services Department would travel to the Plumtree Border Post to receive the bodies.
"We expect the bodies to be repatriated on Sunday but we are yet to receive confirmation from the Botswana officials. Most of the dead did not not have travel documents such as passports which is causing the delays," she said.
Dube said a big tent would be pitched at Malila Line in Ward 16 where mourners would be gathered for a mass funeral.
She said thereafter they would move from one household to the other where the burial of each body would be conducted.
The DA said the mass funeral service and simultaneous burial was ideal because the accident victims were related.
The two minors who are from Bilingoma area under Headman Muyengwa were travelling with their mother, Isabel Ngwenya who escaped with severe injuries.
The siblings Nokubonga Gumbo, 8, and Ndodana Gumbo, 7, were identified by their uncle, Maqhawe Gumbo who works in Francistown, Botswana.
Gumbo said the two children would be buried at their home area in Bulilima.
The grandmother of the two children, Angel Kwelekwele Gumbo said her grandchildren were on their way to South Africa where they were attending school.
She said the children were in Tsholotsho for the Christmas holidays.
"My daughter-in-law was staying with her two children in South Africa and that is where they were attending school. They left here on Saturday morning heading for South Africa and the next thing I heard was that my grandchildren were involved in an accident," she said.
Seven of the 18 passengers escaped with severe injuries. The South Africa bound Ford Ranger hit a donkey and then rammed into a tree last Sunday and 11 of the passengers died on the spot.
The accident occurred along the Palapye-Martins Drift Road in the neighbouring country.
According to Botswana Police, only the driver had a passport - suggesting all his 17 passengers were illegal immigrants. The injured are admitted at Princess Marina and Mahalapye Hospitals while the bodies of the deceased are at Mahalapye Hospital mortuary.
Eight of the victims are from Malilia Village, Ward 16 area in Tsholotsho under Chief Gampu while the other is from Malanda Village in Ward 14 area in Tsholotsho.
Source - chronicle
