Two Eastern Cape victims of last month’s horror train accident in the Free State were laid to rest on Saturday.
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) said that their funerals were held in Hofmeyer and Cookhouse respectively.
Prasa said of the 20 victims from the tragic level crossing accident, 16 were laid to rest in the Free State, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape on Saturday, with the families of the Free State victims, opted for a mass funeral which was held at the Phahamisanang Primary School in Virginia.
Delivering the keynote at the funeral in Virginia, Free State MEC for Transport, Sam Mashinini said, “What we see today are the results of how much more people committed to working together can achieve.”
“The collaboration between the provincial government, the national government through the department of transport working with PRASA as well as the municipality, has resulted in all of us ensuring that all the family members get a dignified burial for their loved ones, enveloped in the spirit of Ubuntu,” he said.
Prasa said that there were five separate funerals in Gauteng.
Prasa’s Dr Sipho Sithole told mourners in Virginia that the Passenger Rail Agency “will ensure that the bereaved families are adequately supported through the necessary claims in respect of their loved ones whether for claims for the deceased or injuries.”
Sithole said that there are four families who are still missing their relatives with DNA testing still being conducted on the deceased recovered from the wreckage on Wednesday, 31 January.
Twenty people were killed when the passenger train from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg derailed and caught alight after colliding with a truck which had failed to stop at a level crossing.
