The owner of a bus that crashed in the Hex River Valley Pass on Wednesday killing 23 people has handed himself in, police said on Thursday night.
The 44-year-old man was accompanied by his lawyer at the De Doorns police station at about 4pm, Captain Frederick van Wyk said.
"He will appear in the De Doorns Periodical Court (today) to face charges of culpable homicide," said Van Wyk.
Police did not name him.
He joins his bus driver, Sisa Nonama, in custody.
Nonama, 41, on Thursday appeared in Touws River Periodical Court on 20 counts of culpable homicide after the bus he was driving crashed between De Doorns and Touws River.
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Wearing the same clothes as the day of the accident Nonama limped heavily into court.
He said he would like to have a private lawyer. He spoke with difficulty, staring at the floor.
Prosecutor Nathan Johnson said more charges were pending.
Nonama was being remanded in custody for seven days to allow him to find a suitable lawyer, to find out his particulars and preparation for bail information.
The magistrate postponed the matter until Tuesday in De Doorns because the accident took place in that jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, the head of Worcester's provincial traffic centre, Anton Cole, says based on preliminary investigations it appeared the bus had been speeding and had faulty breaks.
According to eyewitness accounts it also appeared the driver had fallen asleep and there was a fault with the bus's brakes, said Cole.
He described the road on which the bus had been travelling moments before it veered into the oncoming lane and crashed through the guard rail.
"As you come down the mountain pass to De Doorns there's a straight stretch of road with arrestor beds on the left side (on which the bus had travelled).
"About 250 metres later there's a curve in the road and that's where a concrete barrier is erected. After the concrete barrier there's a steel guard rail," he said.
Cole said the bus had apparently swerved from its lane into the oncoming lane, had skidded along the concrete barrier before smashing through the guard rail and rolling down an embankment.
"That was one of the most horrible accident scenes I've ever seen."
Hours after Wednesday's crash a number of survivors gave the Cape Times the same account. Traffic officers initially believed 28 people had been killed in the accident.
The bus, which was travelling from Ngcobo in the Eastern Cape to Cape Town and carrying at least 75 passengers, exceeding the 64-passenger limit, had been declared unroadworthy last year and was therefore not supposed to be transporting passengers.
On Thursday the Health Department's Myliesha Wakefield said 28 passengers were still in hospital, eight of them children.
caryn.dolley@i
Plot thickens: The owner of the bus involved in a crash that killed 23 people near De Doorns has handed himself in, joining the driver Sisa Nonama in custody. Photo: Independent Newspapers
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