The tragic tale of the 8-year-old girl who survived the ZCC Moria bus accident, which claimed the lives of 45 people.
The tragic tale of the 8-year-old girl who survived the ZCC Moria bus accident, which claimed the lives of 45 people.
Details about the 8-year-old girl who survived the tragedy involving a bus carrying 45 passengers to Moria for Easter have surfaced.
Forty-six people left Molepolole on March 28. For the Easter celebration hosted by Zion Christian Church (ZCC), they were traveling to Moria in GaMokwane, Polokwane. The bus, registered in Botswana, thereafter neared the Ga-Mmamatlakala locality on the R518 Road within the Waterberg District of Limpopo.
At the bridge, the driver lost control of the heavy vehicle, and it swerved off the road before crashing into the bridge barricade. The bus plunged 50 metres deep into the ravine. It exploded into a raging inferno after crashing onto the rocks below the bridge
Almost everyone on the bus, including the driver, died in the Moria accident, with some burned beyond recognition. By Friday, 34 bodies had been recovered, and only nine had been identified.Only one person survived the horrific accident: an eight-year-old girl who is currently getting treatment in a Limpopo hospital.
Lauryn Siako, age eight, is the only survivor of the accident.Thilivhali Muavha, the main health official’s spokesperson in Limpopo Province, told the New York Times that Lauryn was discovered outside the bus by firefighters, suffering from small injuries on her head, back, arms, and legs.
Lauryn begged her mother to accompany her grandmother to the Easter pilgrimage, which had resumed after a COVID-19 halt. The two joined 43 other St. Engenas Zion Christian Church members on Wednesday night and left Molepolole for Moria. Barely hours later, the 8-year-old was the only surviving passenger on the bus.
Her mother, Gaolebale Siako, could not hold back her tears: How did she come out of that bus? It’s hard to explain. I’m hurt that I lost my mom and other people, but I’m also comforted knowing that my child is alive.”
How Lauryn survived the horrific crash continues to shock authorities. She provided South African authorities with information on the accident that went viral. According to the New York Times, she also gave them her mother’s contact details and told them where the bus was heading and where it was coming from.
A bus has crashed in South Africa, killing 45 of the 46 people on board, including the driver.
Only one person, an eight-year-old child, survived the accident and is being treated in hospital.
Sky’s Africa correspondent @YousraElbagir reports.
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— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 28, 2024
