I was privileged to be able to have a holiday in South Africa at the end of June visiting such places as Cape Town,Durban, Krugger National Park, Johannesburg, Soweto, Swaziland and Lake Victoria
The below vehicle was one of those that we travelled on the grand tour. It is a Chinese Yutong ZK6938HQ and seated 35 passengers. It is seen here with our Tour Director
Unfortunately on Monday 24th June on the 10th day of our holiday this coach was involved in a Crash. Whilst we were overtaking two lorries one of them, a Fire Service Water Tanker, came in to our path and a collision occurred. Probably due to the skills of the driver our coach never rolled and remained upright. However most of the damage to the coach and the injuries to the passengers occurred post collision when the vehicle was forced off the road where it first jumped a fence, hedge and an area of rough surface including boulders before rejoining and crossing the highway and then jumping another fence and travelling many yards before eventually coming to a stop. As can be seen most windows were smashed and there was considerable damage to the underneath of the coach which can be found on the trail left post collision.
Of the 20 persons on board 12, including my wife and myself were conveyed by ambulance to a local regional hospital. Two people were detained with fairly serious injuries but the rest of us were discharged after a few hours having had x-rays, etc to ensure no significant injuries. The hospital was brilliant and we have nothing but praise for the treatment that we received,
My wife was struck by the door frame and had to receive a number of stitches in her head, I, like most of the passengers suffered mainly back injuries with various cuts and bruises - but these injuries have proved to be not too serious and are currently being dealt with by pain killers and should heal in time.
We were given the option by our tour company to arrange immediate passage home but we all chose to continue with the holiday - with certain changes made in view of our physical state. We have now returned home and obtained medical advice and assistance and recovery is in progress.
One annoying outcome of the accident is that my camera that I have used for many years was damaged but fortunately after it was found in the coach I was able to recover the photographs taken from the SD Card.