A bus in South Africa plunged off a bridge and fell more than 150 feet Thursday, killing 45 people, officials said. Only one passenger, an 8-year-old girl, survived the crash.
The bus was traveling from Botswana to an annual Easter festival at a church in Moria, in South Africa’s northern province of Limpopo.
The driver of the bus reportedly lost control while driving over the bridge, colliding with barriers before falling about 50 meters onto a rocky surface, Limpopo’s Department of Transport and Community Safety said.
Rescue workers at the scene of the bus crash Mamatlakala, South Africa, on March 28, 2024.
Limpopo Department of Transport and Community Safety
Rescue operations continued late Thursday. Some bodies were burned beyond recognition, while others were trapped inside the vehicle’s debris, the department said.
A department spokesperson told CBS News that the 8-year-old survivor is a girl. She was being treated at a nearby hospital, though the department did not provide further details about her condition.
Rescue workers told local media that the bus was pulling a trailer, adding additional weight to the vehicle as it crossed the bridge.
“I am sending my heartfelt condolences to the families affected by the tragic bus crash near Mamatlakala,” Sindisiwe Chikunga, South Africa’s Minister of Transport, said at the crash scene. “We continue to urge responsible driving at all times with heightened alertness as more people are on our roads this Easter weekend.”
Fire broke out aboard the Carnival Freedom in the Bahamas
Fire broke out aboard the Carnival Freedom in the Bahamas
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A Carnival cruise ship will be out of commission for repairs for at least a week after its exhaust funnel caught fire and partially collapsed Saturday during a trip to the Bahamas. It marked the second time in just under two years that the funnel on this same ship, the Carnival Freedom, went up in flames while carrying passengers.
What caused the most recent incident is still being investigated, according to the cruise company. No one on board the ship was injured, but Carnival said two fire crew members were treated for minor smoke inhalation.
The Carnival Freedom left from Port Canaveral, Florida, on Thursday and was supposed to travel for several days through the Bahamas before returning Monday to Port Canaveral. It was not immediately clear how many passengers and crew were on board the Freedom when the fire erupted, but the cruise ship can accommodate 2,980 guests and 1,150 crew members at capacity. CBS News contacted Carnival for more information.
The ship initially reported a fire at around 3:15 p.m. EDT on Saturday, on the port side of the ship’s exhaust funnel as it sailed 20 miles off of the Bahamas’ Eleuthera Island en route to Freeport, the company said in a statement. It had changed course to turn toward Freeport, at the northern tip of the island chain, after cancelling a stop farther south in Princess Cays because of bad weather. Eyewitnesses said that a lightning strike may have sparked the fire, a claim that Carnival said “is being investigated but cannot yet be confirmed.”
A portion of the Carnival Freedom ship’s exhaust funnel broke off and crashed onto the deck below, after a fire broke out Saturday inside the smokestack.
Carnival / Randalyn Rogers
A fire response team was activated quickly to put out the blaze once it broke out, as the Freedom’s captain shifted the cruise liner toward the heavy rain nearby in hopes that would help. The fire was extinguished by 5:20 p.m., Carnival said, including flames from a portion of the funnel that broke off and fell onto one of the ship decks. Funnels are essentially used as smokestacks or chimneys to expel fumes and engine exhaust.
The U.S. Coast Guard said the Carnival Freedom crew was able to extinguish the fire Saturday without their help. They were aware of the fire, though, and issued a Captain of the Port order to the cruise ship before it was scheduled to enter Port Canaveral, Florida, on Monday. Captain of the Port orders are broad mandates that the Marine Safety and Security Council describes as a tool granting Coast Guard crews “with operational controls over an emergent situation posing safety, security, or environmental risks.”
“We are continuing to monitor the situation,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.
Although Carnival said at first that it did not expect the fire to impact trips on the Freedom cruise set to depart Port Canaveral on Monday and Friday, a technical assessment carried out in Freeport on Sunday revealed more significant damage to the ship than they originally thought. The damage would “require an immediate repair to stabilize the funnel” after disembarking guests in Port Canaveral on Monday, the company said in an updated statement following the assessment.
“The funnel has been stabilized for the ship’s return to Port Canaveral overnight to disembark guests, and then it will go to the Freeport shipyard on Monday afternoon to begin the required repairs,” Carnival said on Sunday. “We sincerely regret the impact to our embarking guests, as we know they have been looking forward to their spring break vacation.”
Both Carnival Freedom cruises scheduled for this week have been cancelled. Carnival said guests who had booked those cruises would receive full refunds and future cruise credits.
The Carnival Freedom’s exhaust funnel last went up in flames less than two years ago, in May 2022. It was in Grand Turk at the time, during a planned five-day trip from Port Canaveral. The ship had 2,504 guests and 972 crew on board, Carnival said at the time. None of the passengers or crew were hurt.
Emily Mae Czachor
Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She covers breaking news, often focusing on crime and extreme weather. Emily Mae has previously written for outlets including the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Two women were killed and another woman and two men were hospitalized with burns after a pleasure boat caught fire and exploded at a marina in Long Beach, California, authorities said.
The blaze was reported around 5:15 p.m. Saturday on a 35-foot powerboat at a fuel dock in Alamitos Bay, the Long Beach Fire Department said.
Cory Valdes was on another boat nearby when he heard the explosion and then saw flames consume the vessel.
“It was so loud, it shook us,” he told the Long Beach Press-Telegram. “It went up so fast — you are talking ten, fifteen seconds and it was fully engulfed.”
One man was quickly able to get off the burning boat and onto the dock, Valdes recalled, while the other man and a woman jumped into the water.
Valdes and others grabbed a hose to help fight the flames until a fire boat arrived with a water cannon. Firefighters initially struggled to find the two remaining women on the boat, Valdes said.
“You know there are the other two on board, you are hearing yelling, you think you are hearing screaming — it was just a poor, sad situation,” said Valdes, who’s retired from the U.S. Coast Guard and is a regular at the marina.
The fire sent up a black plume of smoke that could be seen and smelled from throughout the area that is about 30 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.
All of those killed and injured were in their 60s, Fire Capt. Jake Heflin told the newspaper. Their identities were not immediately released.
The cause of the fire was under investigation Sunday.
The wreckage of the boat was towed to an isolation dock to prevent environmental damage from leaking fuel, Heflin said.
