Western Cape, SWELLENDAM, 1975 Swellendam Bus Disaster Memorial
'In 1975 27 teachers and pupils from the town were killed when the lorry transporting them plunged into a river along the N2 highway near Riviersonderend. The accident left only 11 survivors. Jan Jansen, 53, was a victim. He was 13 and a passenger in the lorry when it crashed. “We were on our way to a tennis and rugby tournament at a school in Genadendal when we suddenly felt the lorry driving on gravel. Panic erupted and it took a split second for the lorry to plummet into the river,” Jansen said. “Many children, including myself, could not swim. I clung to a piece of wood drifting in the river. It did not take long for other children to start grabbing on the wood too. I could no longer hold on and I felt myself slipping down into the water. I started sinking deeper into the water when, like a Godsend, a rope was tossed to me by a farmworker from a nearby farm. He dragged me out of the water and I was rushed to hospital along with the other survivors." Jansen said many of the pupils and teachers had died as a result of broken necks, backs and drowning. Source: https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/news/swellendam-overcome-by-sorrow-1855815 Cemetery information:- Album complete. eGGSA captions by: James Anderson The GGSA Cemetery DVD/ Cemetery Transcript Project only has information on the cemetery location. Cemetery ID: 7056 Google Earth Cemetery Initiative Information:- GPSID: 8480 GPS: -34 01.238, 20 26.568
1. Overview / Oorsig
Swellendam busramp/bus disaster 25.10.1975