Three cops, two prisoners among six killed in Limpopo head-on crash

Ask AI 1minA case of culpable homicide has been opened at Makhado police station after a SAPS vehicle and a Tshisimani Water bakkie collided on the R524 Levubu Road in the Vhembe district

Six people have been killed in a horror head-on crash in Limpopo after a police vehicle taking awaiting-trial prisoners to jail slammed into a bakkie on Tuesday.

Three police members and two of the prisoners died, along with the driver of the bakkie.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Hlulani Mashaba said the Tshilwavhusiku police station van had been taking three awaiting-trial prisoners to a correctional facility in Thohoyandou when it collided with a white Mahindra bakkie belonging to Tshisimani Water on the R524 Levubu Road in the Vhembe district.

He said emergency medical services had declared five people dead at the scene.

A third police member, who had been seriously injured, later died in hospital, Mashaba said.

The police members who died were a man and two women, and both prisoners were men.

The third prisoner was seriously injured and taken to hospital under police guard.

“We extend our sincere condolences to all the bereaved families, colleagues and loved ones of those who lost their lives in this tragic incident,” said Limpopo provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Jan Petrus Scheepers.

“We also wish the injured a speedy recovery.”

Mashaba said a case of culpable homicide had been opened at Makhado police station and the circumstances of the crash were being investigated.

He said senior police management had attended the scene.

The names of the dead have not been released because their next of kin still had to be informed.