Wreckage of the bus crash.Photo:AP Photo/Themba Hadebe

The wreckage off a bus lays in a ravine a day after it plunged off a bridge on the Mmamatlakala mountain pass between Mokopane and Marken, around 300km (190 miles) north of Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, March 29, 2024.

AP Photo/Themba Hadebe

An 8-year-old sole survivor of abus crashthat killed 45 other people in the northern province of Limpopo, South Africa, on March 28 was released from the hospital.

“Limpopo Health MEC, Dr. Phophi Ramathuba is this morning bidding farewell to the 8-year-old girl who survived the bus accident ferrying the Botswana nationals who were going to the Easter pilgrimage at ZCC St. Engenas in Moria,” the Limpopo Department of Health said. “The girl, together with her mother, departed from Polokwane Airport and will be going to Gaborone, via OR Tambo International Airport.”

According to the AP, Limpopo provincial Health Minister Phophi Ramathuba told reporters on April 3 that the 8-year-old was “in a position where we can now release her to her home because at the same time the psychological impact of being away from home does have an impact on the total, complete healing.”

Mmamatlakala Bridge.Traffic Policing Affairs Limpopo/Facebook

45 Dead After Bus Plunges Off Bridge in Mmamatlakala, South Africa, with 8 year old child only survivor

Traffic Policing Affairs Limpopo/Facebook

The horrific crash happened after a bus transporting crashed over the Mmamatlakala Bridge, the province’s Department of Transport and Community Safety said in a statement posted toFacebookon March 28. According to theSouth African Broadcasting Corporation, the passengers were a group from Botswana, who were traveling to a church in Moira for an Easter conference.

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PEOPLE has reached out to the Department of Transport and the Limpopo Department of Health.

Wreckage of the bush crash.Shiraaz Mohamed/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Emergency services and rescue workers attend to the site of a bus crash in the Mamatlakala mountain pass in Limpopo province, South Africa, 29 March 2024. According to South Africa’s transport ministry, 45 people died in the crash after the bus the previous day drove of a bridge. The bus was carrying passengers from Botswana to town of Moria for a local Easter religious gathering.

Shiraaz Mohamed/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Once the rescue teams responded, they discovered some of the victims’ bodies “were burned beyond recognition,” while other bodies were “trapped inside the debris and others scattered on the scene.”

Resident Simone Mayema toldThe Washington Postthat he was one of the first to arrive at the scene. “We tried to help [but] there was nothing we could do because there [were] flames," he said.

In a statementposted to X(formerly known as Twitter), South Africa’s Department of Transport said the 8-year-old girl had been “seriously injured” in the accident.

Efforts to identify the remains of those who died in the accident are still ongoing, according to the AP.

source: people.com