The death toll in the bus crash on the N1 near Louis Trichardt in Limpopo has risen from 42 to 43.

This was confirmed by Limpopo Premier Phophi Ramathuba.

The bus, which was reportedly travelling from Gqeberha to Zimbabwe and Malawi, veered off the road and down an embankment on Sunday evening.

Ramathuba expressed her sadness over the death of another passenger.

“It has been a difficult past two nights. What we can indicate is that unfortunately and regrettably, out of the death toll we have now increased by one last night, bringing the total number of deaths as a result of this tragedy to 43. This one is a male patient who was amongst the six priority ones, those that we indicated were very critical. So, unfortunately, he passed on last night. “

She says the process of identifying the deceased passengers will begin on Wednesday. She has appealed to family members of the victims to come forward.

“We have already started to make a call to the families, those that know that their loved ones were on the bus they should contact Dr Raligiba from Louis Trichardt Hospital so that he can be able to check if it’s one of the admitted patients or survivors or if it’s one of the deceased. So tomorrow, we’ll be starting with the postmortems. We are saying families must come and then we’ll start to do that identification.  “

VIDEO | Families have expressed sorrow at losing their loved ones

Meanwhile, Border Management Authority Commissioner, Michael Masiapato, has joined fellow South Africans and the neighbouring nations of Zimbabwe and Malawi in mourning the loss of the bus crash victims.

“This heartbreaking incident occurred along one of our country’s busiest cross-border corridors linking South Africa with the rest of the SADC region. It serves as a painful reminder of the human cost of unsafe travel conditions on long-distance routes and the urgent need to strengthen the safety and security of all people who traverse our borders in search of opportunity, connection and hope. We remain committed to that law that the standards of cross-border transport are continuously monitored and enforced.”

VIDEO| President Cyril Ramaphosa has sent condolences to the families of the deceased