MAKHADO (LOUIS TRICHARDT) - A police officer from the Vhembe District’s Flying Squad was killed early Wednesday morning when he was run over by a bus.

At the time of going to press, information regarding the fatal incident was still sketchy. His death followed a secondary accident at the scene of an accident that occurred at about 05:30 along the N1, some 20km south of Louis Trichardt. As his next of kin still had to be informed of his death, his name could not be released.

According to the police, a vehicle travelling to Polokwane collided with a slow-moving heavy vehicle travelling in the same direction. Within minutes, a Flying Squad vehicle was at the scene, after which Flying Squad members assisted the seriously injured female driver of the vehicle.

The next moment a bus, said to be from Zimbabwe, rear-ended the damaged vehicle after which it ploughed into the Flying Squad vehicle. Standing in its path of destruction was one of the Flying Squad members. The bus struck the police officer and dragged him along for some 50 meters. The police officer was killed instantly. The bus came to a standstill some few hundred metres away.

Traffic flow on the N1 was seriously hampered by the accident. It was said that the driver of the bus was arrested on the scene. The female driver was taken to hospital for medical treatment.