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Marcia Seekoei was among the patients sent to the Botshabelo Hospital on Thursday 10 November 2022 and was released the same day into the care of her husband. However, three days later she passed on after she experienced difficulty breathing as a result of injuries. She also had a broken collarbone.

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The deceased’s husband, 53-year-old John Chari Mbeleko, tells OFM News the day after his wife was discharged from the hospital, he noticed that she was experiencing some difficulties. She had to be assisted to get into bed and to go to the bathroom.

Matters took a serious turn on Saturday, when Seekoei - who is the mother of three daughters - experienced difficulty breathing. An emotional Mbeleko tells OFM News he was frantic in an attempt to get help from some of the emergency medical companies which attended to the collision but his efforts were all in vain.

At one point he left his numbers with a known private emergency medical company but they did not return his call. He says he eventually took his wife to a nearby hospital, the Moroka Hospital in Thaba Nchu, and early on Monday 14 November his wife was declared dead.

Mbeleko says the most painful and difficult thing was the moment he needed to prepare to inform their daughters aged 14, 9 and 8 about the passing of their beloved mother. The oldest is especially struggling to come to terms with her mother's death.

“My wife left three kids, which are three daughters, and I don’t know how I am going to face them or look at them. It’s very painful and I believe that the hospital failed us (because they were at least) supposed to check and (admit her) for some time to observe her. But they just said she is better and that she had to be discharged from the hospital. They were telling me that according to her x-rays, it’s her collar bone.

"I believe they were supposed to have checked her thoroughly but they failed to do that. It is very painful to lose a wife, especially when the kids are young like this. It’s painful. I don’t know what to say. I don’t even have words because it’s very hard,” Mbeleko added.

Mbeleko said he was on the scene during the day of the accident and helped medical personnel put his wife into an ambulance to the Botshabelo Hospital. He was also around when the X-rays were done, before she was discharged on the same day of the accident.

The deceased will be buried this week in Thaba Nchu. It’s understood that the bus liner has since contributed R50 000 towards the burial of Seekoei, as promised in media statements after the accident.

A bystander at the scene told OFM News that just a few minutes after the fatal accident, whilst everyone was rushing to save the injured and look for survivors, women were screaming and crying for help. However, later the screams and crying faded away. A cell phone inside the wreckage of the bus also continued to ring as loved ones tried to contact one of the victims.  

Seven people, including the bus and truck driver, passed on at the scene, whilst 3 critically injured and more than 20 other patients with minor or moderate injuries were sent to various hospitals. The bodies of the deceased passengers and truck driver were all trapped inside the wreckages. 

ALSO READ: Seven people dead, 38 injured, and many trapped after Free State bus accident

The Provincial Emergency Medical Services (EMS) spokesperson, Sipho Towa, earlier told OFM News that 22 patients were taken to the Botshabelo Hospital, 9 to the Moroka Hospital, 10 to the Pelonomi Hospital, and 1 to Rosepark Life Hospital. 

According to the Police, Roads and Transport Department's spokesperson, Hillary Mophethe, it is alleged that the truck driver overtook the bus when he noticed an oncoming vehicle. He then tried to avoid a head-on collision by swaying his truck to the left lane but this led to a collision with the bus.

The North West-based company whose truck was involved in the collision, Sedaka Logistic Company, told OFM News that the management of the company is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life and injuries sustained as a result of this terrible collision.

Sedaka's Human Uys said that while it is unclear what led to the collision, the company vows to cooperate fully with the authorities as the circumstances leading to the incident are investigated.

OFM News