{"id":12354,"date":"2026-02-20T09:28:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T09:28:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=12354"},"modified":"2026-02-20T09:28:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T09:28:49","slug":"tragedy-strikes-again-on-n1-as-zimbabwe-bound-bus-plunges-into-ravine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=12354","title":{"rendered":"Tragedy Strikes Again on N1 as Zimbabwe-Bound Bus Plunges into Ravine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Zim GBC News | South African Correspondent<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MAKHADO, South Africa \u2013 Scores of Zimbabweans are feared dead after a cross-border bus traveling from Gauteng to Zimbabwe plunged into a deep ditch along the N1 outside Makhado town in Limpopo province early Thursday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The horrific accident occurred near Ingwe Lodge, at the exact same stretch of road where 43 people, including 36 Zimbabweans, lost their lives in a similar crash in October 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Limpopo&#8217;s Department of Transport and Community Safety, the bus remains trapped down the cliff, with rescue workers still on the scene. The road has been closed in both directions, and motorists are being advised to use the R523 Nzhelele Road as an alternative route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Limpopo\u2019s MEC for Transport and Community Safety, Ms. Violet Mathye, is expected to arrive at the scene later on Thursday morning to assess the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a statement, the department confirmed the severity of the incident but noted that casualty figures are still unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;A bus carrying passengers lost control and fell into a ditch in the area,&#8221; the department said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;At this stage, the exact cause of the accident remains unknown. However, it is clear that there are multiple fatalities and injuries. A competent authority will confirm the numbers in due course.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The department added a grim detail regarding the recovery efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The vehicle remains in the ditch, making it difficult to determine the exact number of occupants at the time of the incident.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It has not yet been confirmed whether all passengers on board were destined for Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Updates will be provided as soon as more information becomes available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>FOLLOW US FOR REAL-TIME UPDATES:<br>\u00b7 X (Twitter): @ZimGbc<br>\u00b7 Instagram: @ZimGBCNews<br>\u00b7 TikTok: @ZimGBCNews_01<br>\u00b7 Facebook: Zim GBC News<br>\u00b7 YouTube: Zim GBC News<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Get real-time alerts on WhatsApp:<br>+263 773 820 323<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Zim GBC News | Global News From An African Perspective\u00a9\ufe0f2026<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Zim GBC News | South African Correspondent MAKHADO, South Africa \u2013 Scores of Zimbabweans are feared dead after a cross-border bus traveling from Gauteng to Zimbabwe plunged into a deep&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12354"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12356,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12354\/revisions\/12356"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}