The aftermath of a bus crash on the N1 in Limpopo in February 2023. (Photo: Twitter @AlgoaFMNews) 
After the crash, the bus rolled from a bridge on the N1 freeway into a river below, said ER24, whose paramedics were on the scene.
“Three people were found deceased by the roadside and 16 down by the river — all were declared dead on arrival,” ER24 said in a statement. “One patient, of the 69 passengers confirmed transported to hospital for various injuries, has since died,” it said.
The Limpopo transport department said the crash happened around 5 pm on Monday and that the bus was carrying passengers from the town of Makhado to areas in the province’s Vhembe district.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Bus-crash-legal-sa.jpeg "The wreckage following the Limpopo bus crash on 13 February 2023. (Photo: Twitter- @TheLegalSA)")
Police divers have been dispatched to verify that no one was swept away by the river, the department said in a statement.
ER24 said police were investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash and that heavy rains had fallen in the area where it happened.
A provincial police spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. DM
(Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
UPDATE: BBC News reported that 68 people were injured. Quoting AFP news agency, it said that police divers were also searching the river that runs along the motorway "for people who might have been swept away". This region and others in South Africa have been suffering heavy downpours and flooding, prompting the government to declare a national disaster.