{"id":1769,"date":"2024-04-01T19:41:38","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T18:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/?p=1769"},"modified":"2024-04-01T19:41:38","modified_gmt":"2024-04-01T18:41:38","slug":"45-botswana-christian-killed-in-crash-while-traveling-to-south-africa-for-easter-gathering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/?p=1769","title":{"rendered":"45 Botswana Christian killed in crash while traveling to South Africa for Easter gathering"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\":r8\" class=\"Ar Au Ao\">\n<div id=\":rc\" class=\"Am aiL Al editable LW-avf tS-tW tS-tY\" tabindex=\"1\" role=\"textbox\" contenteditable=\"true\" spellcheck=\"false\" aria-label=\"Message Body\" aria-multiline=\"true\" aria-owns=\":v2\" aria-controls=\":v2\" aria-expanded=\"false\">\n<figure id=\"attachment_1767\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1767\" style=\"width: 204px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1767\" src=\"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Map-of-Botswana.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"204\" height=\"192\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1767\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Map of Botswana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>Forty-five Christians were killed in South Africa on Thursday March 28 when the bus they were traveling in from Botswana to the city of Moria in the South African province of Limpopo crashed,\u201d <i>Christian Post<\/i> has reported.<\/p>\n<p>President Cyril Ramaphosa, who confirmed this, said the bus crashed while traveling on the R518 road near Mokopane, Limpopo for an Easter gathering.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1766\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1766\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1766\" src=\"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/President-Cyril-Ramaphosa-300x226.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"226\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/President-Cyril-Ramaphosa-300x226.webp 300w, https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/President-Cyril-Ramaphosa.webp 348w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1766\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Cyril Ramaphosa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The service is the largest Christian gathering in South Africa during Easter. It is held at Zion City, Moria, which is the seat of the African-based Zion Christian Church.<\/p>\n<p>South African publication,<i> The Daly Vox<\/i> said, \u201cRough calculations estimate that between three million and five million pilgrims visit Moria for the Easter pilgrimage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to a statement on X by the South African Department of Transport, only one person, an eight years old girl, survived out of the 46 persons it was conveying. They were all citizens of Botswana.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1765\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1765\" style=\"width: 204px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1765\" src=\"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/South-Africa-Map.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"204\" height=\"192\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1765\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">South Africa Map<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIt is alleged that the driver lost control, colliding with barriers on the bridge causing the bus to go over the bridge and hitting the ground, where it caught fire,\u201d the department said.<\/p>\n<p>South African Minister of Transport, Sindisiwe Chikunga, expressed \u201cheartfelt condolences to the families affected by the tragic bus crash,\u201d adding, \u201cOur thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Limpopo Department of Transport and Community Safety, in a statement, said the lone survivor in the accident was an eight years old girl.<\/p>\n<p>It also said \u201csome bodies were burned beyond recognition, others trapped inside the debris and others scattered on the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It further stated that the bus fell 50 meters, equivalent to 164 feet, off a bridge before catching on fire.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1768\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1768\" style=\"width: 114px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1768\" src=\"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/President-of-Botswana.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"114\" height=\"160\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1768\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Masisi of Botswana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Meanwhile, on behalf of President Mokgweetsi Maswisi of Botswana, the Botswana Democratic Party, has in a statement, offered \u201cdeepest condolences to the (Zion Christian Church) members and their families by the heart-breaking bus accident.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The South African Police Service, INTERPOL National Central Bureau office says as of Friday, the bodies of 34 out of the 45 passengers had been recovered though only nine of them were identifiable. It said the eight years old girl who survived the accident was receiving treatment at a hospital.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Forty-five Christians were killed in South Africa on Thursday March 28 when the bus they were traveling in from Botswana to the city of Moria in the South African province of Limpopo crashed,\u201d Christian Post has reported. President Cyril Ramaphosa, who confirmed this, said the bus crashed while traveling on the R518 road near [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international","category-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1769"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1770,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1769\/revisions\/1770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}