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Cape Town - Heartbreaking scenes played out at the scene of a horror accident in which eight Department of Correctional Services officials were killed on Tuesday morning.
Netwerk24 reported on Wednesday that a large crowd gathered at the accident site on the N2 highway near Swellendam in the Western Cape after a minibus taxi carrying the officials collided with a bakkie shortly after 07:00.
Family members, friends and colleagues stood in groups, holding each other and crying.
"How do I tell my children?" a weeping woman, whose husband was one of the victims, repeatedly said while talking on her phone.
People who feared their relatives or friends were killed in the accident continued to arrive at the scene, parking on the shoulder of the road.
Police and traffic officials told them that of the nine people in the minibus, only one person survived.
The eight victims all worked at the Buffeljagsrivier Correctional Centre in Swellendam.
Officials said the accident was a great loss for the prison and the emergency management team, employee assistance programme officers, chaplains and nurses had been deployed to the prison to assist traumatised staff, Eyewitness News reported.
The Western Cape transport department said the accident happened when a truck hit a bakkie from behind and the bakkie crossed the road and hit the minibus carrying the officials. The impact of the collision tore the minibus to pieces.
Seven died at the scene and the eighth victim died on the way to hospital. One of the occupants of the bakkie and the driver of the truck were seriously injured.
The N2 highway was closed until about 13:00 on Tuesday.
A case of culpable homicide is being investigated.
