
At least 7 people have died and schoolchildren were swept away as floods and snow hit South Africa
A bus carrying high school students was swept away in the floods in the Eastern Cape province and an unknown number of children were missing, the provincial government said in a statement. Three children were rescued after they clung onto trees, according to the South African National Taxi Council, which said the bus was operated by one of its members.
Disaster response teams have been activated in the province on the south coast.
Six people died in flooding in the Eastern Cape city of Mthatha, where houses and cars were left submerged. A seventh body was recovered near the town of Tsolo, around 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of Mthatha, the provincial government said.
It said a search was underway for the minibus carrying schoolchildren that was swept away on Tuesday morning. SANTACO, the taxi council, said it was unclear how many children there were on the 22-seater bus when it was swept away by floodwater at a bridge near Mthatha.
'Eyewitnesses at the scene reported seeing at least three (children) clinging to trees and calling for help,' SANTACO said. 'The three have since been rescued.'
Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane said 'this is a devastating reminder of nature's force.'
Another five people were killed in a car crash in the Eastern Cape on Tuesday when a minibus taxi overturned, according to provincial transport department spokesperson Unathi Binqose. He said the driver of the minibus was attempting to avoid a tree that had fallen onto the road.
The South African Weather Service has forecast several days of disruptive rain and snow for the Eastern Cape and the neighboring KwaZulu-Natal province along the east coast. Part of a major highway connecting the two provinces was closed because of snow and disaster response teams were also activated in KwaZulu-Natal.
South Africa occasionally experiences snow in some parts, but authorities had warned for days that a particularly strong cold front was about to hit the country.
___
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


BBC News
10 hours ago
- BBC News
Wetheral Oak Tree animal shelter faces months of post-flood work
An animal charity said it has months of work ahead to fix its drainage system after flash flooding hit its Tree Animals' Charity in Wetheral, near Carlisle, had to move out about 20 cats and dogs after heavy rainfall last the clean-up operation begins, staff are finding out the extent of the damage and what needs to be done to prevent it happening again."Our drainage system has taken a real hit, it's full of all the sediment, so having to repair that is the big challenge," said Matt Notter, CEO at the charity. One of the kennel blocks will have to remain closed for the foreseeable future, but Mr Notter said all the animals in their care were safe, with some having moved to different dry spaces and others placed in foster homes or taken home by said: "We're surviving, we're managing, but I'd say the big impact is we've had to stop and delay some of the intake of some of the animals, so people waiting to bring animals in that need our help." He added other charities had reached out to support the shelter, but he was disappointed to have to slow down on new arrivals."We are finding as many ways as we can to overcome that."We're looking for more and more foster carers if anyone is interested in applying - that's a big help right now."An online appeal raised more than £24,000 in just three days, with cash donations and items also being handed by the community."We don't know the grand total yet, but it's a lot and we're obviously very grateful," Mr Notter said. "It won't cover all of the damage, [which] is more than that value once you start having to dig up things to fix drains."It starts to rack up very quickly."He added the shelter was hoping to receive support from a drainage or construction company to lend machinery or their the meantime, he said the prospect of another flood was his main concern."We're worried about anything happening overnight at the moment. "The animals are all in a place that didn't flood so we should be fine, but we're still worrying." Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.


Reuters
13 hours ago
- Reuters
Earthquake of magnitude 5.93 strikes Indonesia's West Papua region, GFZ says
July 26 (Reuters) - An earthquake of magnitude 5.93 struck West Papua region of Indonesia on Saturday, the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) said. The quake was at a depth of 10 km (6 miles), GFZ said.


The Sun
19 hours ago
- The Sun
Huge wildfires rage across Turkey as 13 dead & ‘disaster zones' declared – as president warns of ‘truly great disaster'
DEVASTATING wildfires have once again erupted in Turkey with hundreds of people evacuated as massive blazes continue to rip through the country. The president of the country has warned of a "truly great disaster" after at least 13 people died in the fatal fires. 10 10 10 New wildfires broke out on Turkey's Mediterranean coast on Friday, as the government declared two western provinces in the country to be "disaster zones". East of Antalya, fires broke out in Adana and Mersin on Friday. Elsewhere in the country, firefighters continued battling blazes in Eskisehir and nearby Karabuk that have been raging for several days. Images showed flames and smoke billowing into the sky close to high-rise apartment buildings in Antalya, where local and foreign visitors flock during the summer months. Homes were evacuated in the city centre and the outlying district of Aksu as the fire advanced, news agency DHA reported. Firefighters struggled to extinguish the blazes before strong winds could spread the fire, which closed a major coastal road. Further along the coast, homes in the city of Manavgat were also threatened. Local residents with hoses and buckets rushed to assist firefighters as water-dropping helicopters and planes also battled the flames. Police water cannons and municipal water trucks were also enlisted in the firefighting efforts. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that the country faced "a truly great disaster" after 25,000 people got involved in the emergency effort. Two burned alive in Cyprus & another 10 killed in Turkey in horror wildfires On Thursday, at least six separate wildfires were burning across Turkey. Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli warned that strong winds and blazing heat were creating extremely dangerous conditions. He said that ten firefighters were killed while battling a fire in the central Eskisehir province, Yumakli said late on Wednesday, adding that 14 others were injured. Fanned by strong winds, the fire later spread to another central province, Afyonkarahisar. In the northwestern province of Bilecik, fires raged for a fourth straight day, as firefighters struggled to contain them. Residents were evacuated from fire-threatened areas of all three Turkish provinces, though some residents were later allowed to return to areas in Bilecik that were declared safe. 10 10 Another fire in the neighbouring province of Karabuk, where the UNESCO World Heritage City of Safranbolu is located, quickly grew and led to 10 villages being evacuated. Antalya Gov. Hulusi Sahin said that the fires were under control apart from one in Aksu, which was showing a tendency to grow, and another in Gazipasa, east of Manavgat. "The fires were truly disturbing and dangerous, because they occurred in city centres, among houses," he said. "We evacuated some of our homes ... There are no deaths or injuries." At 46.1°C, July temperatures in Antalya city were the highest for the month since records began in 1930. Turkey has faced widespread outbreaks of forest fires since late June. Firefighters were battling more than 600 fires fuelled by high winds in the drought-hit nation. Residents watched in horror as their homes were torched up and forestry continued to burn. Aftermath photos showed scorched cars and buildings while firefighters worked desperately to fight the flames. Meanwhile, Cyprus has been hit with its worst wildfires "for 50 years" amid growing fears a 44°C heatwave will fuel the blaze even further. The country has plunged into chaos after two people were burnt alive and more than 70 houses were destroyed. 10