Some DGHS girls still in hospital following bus crash
Principal Erica Hayes-Hill says, Eight girls were still in hospital after the bus crash.
"Three learners and one of our staff members are in intensive care. Some have moved from critical to serious.” she said.
Fifty-one pupils, four staff members, and four coaches were on the bus when it crashed on the N2 in Amanzimtoti. They were returning from a soccer tournament in Port Shepstone.
“The injured staff members stayed at the scene and made sure that the girls were attended to before they were treated. Some of the girls were also able to help others who were injured.” she said.
A pupil fainted while Hayes-Hill was addressing an assembly about the accident this morning. While Hayes-Hill was speaking, one girl shouted: “Someone has passed out.”
Hayes-Hill said their first priority was to ensure that staff and girls were safe and that they received the best treatment. Staff members went to the accident scene to assist.
“This is not the time to use social media to send around photos of girls who are injured or traumatic pictures,” she said.
School 'handled situation well'
KwaZulu-Natal education department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said police and the transport department were investigating the accident.
They were happy with how the school handled the situation. By midnight on Friday, all the staff and pupils had been accounted for, he said.
Bus company Roselux Tours was also conducting its own investigation.
Earlier today, a pupil and her father arrived at the school’s reception and asked a teacher for the bags that had been on the bus. The teacher asked her if she was well enough to be at school. She said she wanted to be there.
Another girl arrived at reception with a wound on her forehead and another on her knee. Her father was carrying her school bag.
A parent sitting next to the injured pupil sympathised with her.
She told her she had been lucky because her own daughter was badly injured.
Most of the children involved in the accident were not at school this morning.
In a separate bus accident on Friday, 56 pupils were injured when their bus rolled down an embankment on the R603 near Adams College in Umbumbulu.