Westdene dam disaster

Last updated

Westdene dam disaster
Date27 March 1985
LocationJohannesburg, South Africa
TypeSchool bus accident
Deaths42

The Westdene dam disaster was a bus accident that took place in Westdene, near Johannesburg, South Africa, on 27 March 1985. [1] Of the 72 occupants, 42 drowned inside the submerged bus and two were declared deceased shortly after being taken to a nearby hospital. The remaining 30, including the bus driver, were rescued.

Contents

The accident

The driver of a double-decker bus, 41-year-old Willem Horne, lost control and the bus crashed through barriers into the Westdene dam, a few kilometres from the centre of Johannesburg. A witness said it appeared that a tyre had blown out, sending the bus swerving into another vehicle before it smashed through a fence and plunged into the reservoir. The bus was transporting students, aged 13 to 17, from the local white Afikaans-language high school (Hoërskool Vorentoe [2] ). [3] A student said the bus initially stayed upright but then sank almost immediately with everything happening in about 30 seconds. [4]

A survivor recounted years later, that the passengers were in high spirits and the bus seemed to be travelling at a higher than normal speed, when it suddenly swerved and went nose first into the dam. She swam out a back window and made it to the top of the bus which was covered by about 30cm of water before attempting to turn around for her friends and sister, but stopped when she noticed they were pale and looked like mannequins. [5] Another said most of the students were hysterical and panicked, causing a turmoil of people trying to escape the bus. [4]

A local that lived near the dam recounted that after the accident they had yelled to their grandmother "A bus went into the dam: come and see" causing their grandmother to run towards the accident to help. [6] Another attempting to help, said students were coming to the surface in ones and twos, but after a few minutes they stopped coming to the surface. [4] Another who lived opposite the dam and was doing their emergency medicine attachment heard a woman yelling and saw a handful of people in the water and some on a submerged bus. [7] About 3,000 people, including dozens of tearful and hysterical parents, gathered near the scene as doctors and nurses battled to revive children pulled from the submerged bus. Police said 40 students drowned in the bus and two died later in hospital. Children travelling in another bus said some students trapped on the upper deck managed to break windows and swim to safety. [2]

The bus was hauled out of the water by a crane with the entire operation lasting about three hours. A team of divers retrieved bodies of those in the submerged bus, with schoolbags, briefcases and school books also being retrieved. [3]

Investigation

The driver, Willem Horne, could not remember what had happened and was acquitted.[ citation needed ]

Casualties

A teacher made preliminary identifications of the deceased victims to attempt to spare the parents from having to view the bodies. [4] The following children lost their lives in the disaster: [8]

The minister of health and welfare, Nak van der Merwe, announced a special fund that was to be used to help cover funeral costs for parents of victims. [3] Of the 42 fatalities, 39 were given a public mass funeral and buried in separate graves in the "Heroes Acre" at Westpark Cemetery on 1 April 1985, while two of the deceased were cremated and their ashes given to their families, and one victim was returned to her native Orkney, North West and interred at a cemetery there.

Aftermath

The bus driver Willem Horne had to be placed under police protection when a father of one of the deceased victims showed up at the hospital and demanded to know where the driver was. The Johannesburg municipal bus depot, had several black drivers that reported persistent insults by white passengers since the accident and they had received complaints about the quality of the black drivers. [1]

Legacy

An annual memorial service is held every 27 March at Johannesburg's Vorentoe High School, where most of the victims and survivors had attended school.

In 2013 an investigation was opened by the South African Human Rights Commission into comments posted by former Daily Sun journalist Zama Khumalo that mocked the incident, after Khumalo posted that he would hold a celebration over the tragedy. [9] Khumalo later stated that he was unaware the victims were children and had recently read about the celebrations of the deaths of black people during apartheid and felt angry at the difference he saw between the historical events. [10]

Related Research Articles

The Carrollton bus collision occurred on May 14, 1988, on Interstate 71 in unincorporated Carroll County, Kentucky. The collision involved a former school bus in use by a church youth group and a pickup truck driven by an alcohol-impaired driver. The head-on collision was the deadliest incident involving drunk driving and the third-deadliest bus crash in U.S. history. Of the 67 people on the bus, there were 27 fatalities in the crash, the same number as the 1958 Prestonsburg bus disaster, and behind the 1976 Yuba City bus disaster (29) and 1963 Chualar bus crash (32).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1995 Fox River Grove bus–train collision</span> Grade crossing collision in Fox River Grove, Illinois

The 1995 Fox River Grove bus–train collision was a grade crossing collision that killed seven students riding aboard a school bus in Fox River Grove, Illinois, on the morning of October 25, 1995. The school bus, driven by a substitute driver, was stopped at a traffic light with the rearmost portion extending onto a portion of the railroad tracks when it was struck by a Metra Union Pacific Northwest Line train, train 624 en route to Chicago.

On 1 May 2003, a coach bus drove into the Saulspoort Dam near the town of Bethlehem, South Africa, killing 51 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prestonsburg, Kentucky, bus crash</span> 1958 accident involving a school bus and the drowning deaths of twenty six children

The collision and plunge into Big Sandy River involving a school bus near Prestonsburg, Kentucky, on February 28, 1958, resulted in the deaths of 26 students and the bus's driver. It was the third-deadliest bus crash in United States history, tied for fatalities with the Carrollton, Kentucky bus collision in 1988. The only deadlier crashes were a 1963 bus-train crash in Chualar, California and the 1976 Yuba City bus disaster, which claimed the lives of 29 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 Bathurst Boys in Red accident</span> Car accident in Canada

The Boys in Red accident[a] occurred on January 12, 2008, just outside the city of Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada. A semi-trailer truck and a van carrying the basketball team from Bathurst High School collided, which killed seven students, the wife of the coach, and injured four other occupants in the van. It was the deadliest transportation accident in New Brunswick since 1989, when a logging truck tipped onto a hayride in Cormier Village, killing 13. It was the deadliest bus accident involving a sports team in Canada until the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in April 2018.

The Yuba City bus disaster occurred on May 21, 1976, in Martinez, California. A chartered school bus transporting 52 passengers on an elevated offramp left the roadway, landing on its roof. Of the 52 passengers, 28 students and an adult adviser were killed in the crash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HaBonim disaster</span>

The HaBonim disaster was an accident which took place on June 11, 1985, when an Israel Railways train collided with a bus carrying schoolchildren on a field trip from Y.H. Brenner middle school in Petah Tikva, Israel. The crash happened near Moshav HaBonim, killing 22 people, and injuring 17.

The Kallar Kahar school bus accident was a school bus road accident that occurred on 27 September 2011 near the town of Kallar Kahar in the Chakwal District of Punjab, Pakistan. 37 people, mostly school students, were killed in the disaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sierre coach crash</span> 2012 deadly road accident in the Sierre Tunnel, Switzerland

The Sierre coach crash occurred on 13 March 2012 near Sierre, Switzerland, when a coach carrying school teachers and pupils crashed into a wall in the Sierre Tunnel. Of the 52 people on board, 28 were killed in the crash, including both drivers, all four teachers, and 22 of the 46 children. The other 24 pupils, all aged between 10 and 12, were injured, including three who were hospitalised with severe brain and chest injuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westpark Cemetery</span> Cemetery in Johannesburg, South Africa

Westpark Cemetery is a large cemetery in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is the resting place of some of the country's well-known citizens. It is a non-denomination designated burial ground, and thus has Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Chinese burial areas. The Jewish section contains a Holocaust Memorial, erected in 1959.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Oznobishino bus crash</span> Motor vehicle incident in Russia

The 2013 Oznobishino bus crash occurred on 13 July 2013 at about 13:00 local time when a bus carrying 64 people was hit by a KAMAZ truck in Oznobishino, Moscow Oblast, about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Moscow. At least 18 people died and another 60 people were injured, with 12 of them in a critical condition. 14 of the victims died at the scene and another four died in hospital. The bus had been travelling from Podolsk to Kurkino when the accident occurred, ripping its back half off.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woltemade Decoration for Bravery, Silver</span> Award

The Woltemade Decoration for Bravery, Silver is the lesser of two classes of a South African civil decoration for acts of bravery. It replaced the King's Medal for Bravery, Silver and Queen's Medal for Bravery, Silver, the award of which was discontinued in South Africa in 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woltemade Decoration for Bravery, Gold</span> Award

The Woltemade Decoration for Bravery, Gold is the senior of two classes of a South African civil decoration for acts of bravery. It replaced the Union of South Africa King's Medal for Bravery, Gold and Union of South Africa Queen's Medal for Bravery, Gold, the award of which had been discontinued in 1952 and 1961 respectively.

On April 6, 2018, 16 people were killed and 13 were injured when a northbound coach bus struck a westbound semi-trailer truck that blew through a stop sign near Armley, Saskatchewan, Canada. The driver of the truck had failed to yield at a flashing stop sign at the intersection of Saskatchewan Highways 35 and 335 while driving at a speed of approximately 100 km/h (62 mph). Most of the deceased and injured were players from the Humboldt Broncos, a junior ice hockey team from Humboldt, Saskatchewan, which plays in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westdene, Johannesburg</span> Place in Gauteng, South Africa

Westdene is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. Westdene lies between the historic suburb of Sophiatown and Melville with the Melville Koppies nature reserve to the north of the suburb. Westdene derives its name from its location, literally meaning west-valley. 'West' since it is located west from the city centre and with 'dene' derived from the Old English denu, meaning valley.

The Langenbruck bus crash, occurred on 11 February 1985, when a double-decker bus carrying up to 40 musicians from the Band of the Royal Air Force Germany (RAFG), crashed on an autobahn between Nuremberg and Munich. The fatal crash happened near to the village of Langenbruck, 18 miles north of Munich, in what was West Germany. Twenty-one of the occupants were killed in the crash, which included the driver and one RAF policeman, the other 19 were RAF bandsmen. Six of the military victims were buried in the cemetery of RAF Wegberg in Germany, whilst the others were repatriated back to the United Kingdom. In terms of lives lost, it was listed as the worst bus crash in West Germany for 20 years.

References

  1. 1 2 "The black driver of a school bus that crashed... - UPI Archives". UPI. 29 March 1985. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  2. 1 2 "SOUTH AFRICAN CRASH KILLS 41 JOHANNESBURG". The New York Times . 28 March 1985. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 Smith, James F (28 March 1985). "Students Describe Horror Of Bus Crash That Killed 42". AP NEWS. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "42 Kids Drown in Horrid....Bus Ride to Doom!". Weekly World News. 14 May 1985. p. 39. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  5. ↑ Import, Pongrass (28 March 2023). "Westdene bus tragedy: never forgotten". Northcliff Melville Times. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  6. ↑ Thelen, David; Morgan, Karie L (2015). Building a New South Africa: One Conversation at a Time. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 53. ISBN   9780253017901.
  7. ↑ NcIlraith, Dr Jill (9 April 2017). "First on the scene: the Westdene Dam bus disaster". Corpus. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  8. ↑ "The Westdene Dam disaster". Northcliff Melville Times. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  9. ↑ Germaner, Shain (7 February 2013). "Westdene Dam tragedy comments spark outrage". ewn.co.za. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  10. ↑ Louw, Poppy (25 March 2013). "School bus crash horror revisited". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 4 June 2023.

26°10′45″S27°59′28″E / 26.17917°S 27.99111°E / -26.17917; 27.99111