Online Reporter
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
AS of yesterday afternoon, a total of 20 post mortems had been completed on the bodies of the 43 people who died in South Africa when a DNC bus carrying Malawians and Zimbabweans plunged into a cliff near Louis Trichardt (Makhado) on Sunday afternoon.
The bus was travelling from Port Elizabeth to Harare with 68 adults, including three bus crew members and 14 children when tragedy struck along the N1 highway.
Forty-three people perished among them seven children while several others incurred various injuries during the accident.
The Civil Protection Unit (CPU) said a total of six families travelled in a Government sponsored bus to assist with the identification processes of eight remaining bodies in South Africa. The identification exercise is being carried out by Zimbabwean and Malawian officials working closely with South African authorities and bereaved families.
The Deputy Director for Response and Coordination in the CPU, Veronica Bare, said they expect the post-mortem on all the bodies to be completed by the end of day on Friday.
“So far 20 postmortems have been successfully carried out and we expect the whole process to be completed by the end of the day on Friday,” said Bare.
“We have arranged a bus which has left with six family members to assist with the identification of the remaining eight bodies in South Africa.
“With respect to the seven minors, these will be identified through the Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and the process is already underway”.
She said the physical identification of the bodies will begin on Monday once all the post-mortems have been carried out.
Bare said the Government is covering the accommodation and upkeep expenses for the bereaved families during the identification process until the bodies are brought home for burial.
She said medical bills for all the affected Zimbabweans will be paid by the Government at all the three hospitals in Limpopo province.
“We have established two Command Centres at Beitbridge Border post and in Makhado to coordinate all logistics around the disaster,” said Bare. She said Doves Funeral Services has been engaged to ferry the remains of the deceased back home once all post-mortem and documentation processes are complete.
