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South Africa charges bus owner with murder

07 May 2010 22:53 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The owner of a bus that killed 23 people in South Africa was charged with murder on Friday, a police spokesman said, APA reports quoting â€œAFPâ€.
"They (prosecutors) changed the charges from culpable homicide to murder," said police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk.
The death toll was revised from 28 to 23 after paramedics counted all the bags of which some only had body parts, said Van Wyk. When the forensic team did autopsies they found 23 bodies, he added
The accident happened near Worcester, northeast of Cape Town on Wednesday as the bus overturned while traveling from the Eastern Cape province with around 78 passengers, 14 more than legally allowed.
According to authorities the driver apparently lost control of the bus, went through a barrier, overturned and then careered into the opposite direction it was traveling.
The privately owned bus apparently had been suspended as unroadworthy last year.
Nineteen people and three children died on the scene and one adult died on the way to hospital.
At least 15 people were in a serious condition.
The owner who was on the run after the accident turned himself in the next day and appeared in Worcester Magistrate? Court on Friday.
He will appear in court again on May 12 for a bail application.
The accident raised concerns about the safety of the country’s roads ahead of next month’s World Cup.
However Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele said his department would deploy mobile traffic control centers on major roads and around the nine World Cup host cities to ensure road safety during the June 11 to July 11 tournament.