![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/1BA9C998-AB04-43A4-9121-CF2981754ED1.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A regular passenger of the deadly R21 bus that overturned on Tuesday says he\u2019s lucky to be alive after choosing to take a taxi to work instead.<\/p>\n
At least 13 people have died, and many others have been injured after the bus crashed near OR Tambo International Airport.<\/p>\n
As families identify victims at the Germiston Mortuary, one man expressed gratitude for escaping the crash.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor some reason, I decided not to take the bus but a taxi. After everything that happened, I\u2019m paralysed. I feel like my ancestors were with me; I survived,\u201d said the 31-year-old commuter who requested anonymity.<\/p>\n
Preliminary reports suggest that sudden and harsh braking may have caused the accident.<\/p>\n
More than 80 passengers were on board the 6:30 a.m. bus that was en route to Kempton Park from Katlehong when it rolled over, killing at least 13 people.<\/p>\n
The regular commuter noted that the bus had shown clear signs of wear and tear.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bus was worn out. Even the condition of the brakes made it clear that we were not safe. But it\u2019s cheaper for us, so we don\u2019t have a choice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While the City of Ekurhuleni maintains the bus was roadworthy, the 31-year-old says what he\u2019ll miss most are the Friday after-work drinks with his fellow commuters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know the bus driver and most of the commuters. I\u2019ll miss the chance to be together again; to think about never seeing them again,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, families of the missing passengers are holding onto hope that their loved ones may still be alive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Nkosinathi Mthembu, Lwazi Nkosi’s uncle who is suspected to be one of the victims of the crash, says his his brother who traveled from KwaZulu-Natal to identify his son\u2019s body is inconsolable.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s not right since yesterday. He had his whole life ahead of him, and we never expected something like this. He wasn\u2019t even sick. I hope we get answers,\u201d Mthembu added.<\/p>\n The commuter bus had been filled to capacity with mostly working people and young passengers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The tragedy is one of at-least three serious collision to strike the City of EKhuruleni this week, sparking widespread calls for greater safety measures to be imposed on public transport in the metro.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A regular passenger of the deadly R21 bus that overturned on Tuesday says he\u2019s lucky to be alive after choosing to take a taxi to work instead. At least 13 people have died, and many others have been injured after the bus crashed near OR Tambo International Airport. As families ...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":29084,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/1BA9C998-AB04-43A4-9121-CF2981754ED1.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29083"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29092,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29083\/revisions\/29092"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}