What was supposed to be an adventurous school tour for a group of learners turned into a tragedy when the bus that was supposed to ferry them around knocked one of the learners dead.

Ipfani Madida (15), a Grade 9 learner at Sumbana Secondary School, had prepared well in advance for the big day when the trip was to be undertaken. What she did not know was that it was to be her last day and that she would not undertake the trip.

Madida, of Fandani village outside Thohoyandou, met her tragic end when a bus crushed her to death when she was about to board it at Lamvi village. The bus was to take learners from Sumbana Secondary School on a study trip to Polokwane on Friday morning last week.

According to eyewitnesses, the bus was collecting learners for their study tour on Friday at about 04:30. It is alleged that the bus had already collected the other learners at other venues and the spot where the incident happened was the last one.

The bus is alleged to have passed a group that was waiting and had to reverse for them. The driver somehow did not notice that there was somebody behind the bus and Ipfani was knocked down. “We were already in the bus waiting for our friends to board the bus when we heard noises from the outside. When we alighted, we were met by a grisly sight,” said Lucy Mangalani, a close friend of the deceased.

“My friend’s head was squashed and it was clear that she was no longer breathing. She was dead,” said Lucy sadly. She said her friend died a terrible death that will take a long time for other learners to forget. “We are very saddened by my friend’s death. Why should it happen at a time when she looked forward to seeing Polokwane for the first time? I have been robbed of a true friend and a sister. She was everything to me and life will never be the same,” she said.

The principal of the school, Mr David Mushiana, said he received a call at about five in the morning and rushed to the scene, only to be met by a body lying on the road. He said police and emergency personnel were already at the scene when he arrived. “We are very saddened by this incident. We never thought something like this could happen at our school. We really feel sorry and we send our sincere condolences to the family,” he said. “The whole school is in deep mourning and the mood is very sombre. The whole school will have to undergo counselling”.

He said the trip had to be cancelled as learners were greatly traumatized and classes had to be suspended on Friday. “We could not continue with our normal schooling activities after the incident,” he said.

Mushiana said he found it strange that the driver of the bus had come so early, as they had agreed that an educator would accompany him, but he chose to do it alone. “The whole incident leaves a lot of unanswered questions and we lack answers to many of these questions, but this is not the time to point fingers. We have to be united and bury our beloved learner with dignity,” he said. Mushiana said he and his staff had organized to go and visit the family in order to convey their condolences. “As of now, we are just worried that the bus company has not bothered to come and visit the school or the family. We had thought that they would have the courtesy to come to the family,” he said.

Ipfani’s father, Mr Rasta Madida, said the incident had left them with many questions unanswered.” It is very difficult to accept the death of a healthy child whom you last saw some minutes before. We sometimes just feel it should not have happened to our child, but we know it was her day. She was not going to escape it; her hour had come and she had to leave us tragically,” he said. He said the family had accepted that it was the will of God and were looking to God for comfort. “There are things that we as human beings cannot change; we all have to accept those things and go on with life,” he said

The Makuya police confirmed the incident. A culpable homicide docket has been opened and a post mortem will be conducted to determine the exact cause of death.