At least 45 killed in South Africa bus accident

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa 

Forty-five people have died in South Africa after the bus they were in plunged some 50m (165ft) off a bridge into a ravine, authorities say.

An eight-year-old girl, the only survivor, sustained serious injuries but is now in a stable condition.

The bus crashed through a barrier and caught fire when it hit the ground in the north-eastern Limpopo province.

Thirty-four body bags have been taken from the scene but only nine bodies are identifiable, authorities say.

The passengers were pilgrims travelling from Botswana's capital, Gaborone, to an Easter service in the town of Moria.

The vehicle lost control and went off a bridge on the Mmamatlakala mountain pass between Mokopane and Marken, around 300km (190 miles) north of Johannesburg, according to South African public broadcaster SABC.

Department of Transport spokesperson Colin Msibi told the BBC's Newsday programme that the girl who survived is currently "in hospital, I'm told in stable condition".

"What we suspect is that when the bus hit the barrier of the bridge, the child was ejected out of the bus, and that is how the child was able to survive," Mr Msibi said.

Rescue operations went on late into Thursday evening and continued the next morning.

Limpopo health official Phophi Ramathuba told South African broadcaster eNCA that body parts from separate crash victims may have fused together in the fire, which is why so far only nine bodies have been identified.