GWANDA – Bus driver Ndabezinhle Sikhosana has been talking about the dramatic moment his bus caught fire, and his desperate battle to bring it safely to a stop as an inferno swept through the cabin.

Sikhosana spoke from his hospital bed at the Gwanda Provincial Hospital where he is receiving treatment for burns.

Thirty-one people have been confirmed to have died in the incident involving a Brooklyn Express bus in West Nicholson, Matabeleland South, on Thursday night.

Twenty-seven passengers and three crew members were treated for burns.

Sikhosana said: “We were going to Musina, and there was a lorry in front of me just after West Nicholson. Just as I was overtaking that lorry, we all got this terrible smell inside the bus. We discussed the smell with the two other guys I work with and we quickly ruled out the possibility of it being petrol because if somebody had tried to smuggle petrol onto the bus, we would have picked the smell.

“We then thought whatever was smelling must be from the lorry we had just passed. But after travelling for a bit, the smell was still there and we then realised that whatever was smelling was on the bus.

“I applied the brakes, and just as I did so, there was this fiery explosion from the back. Flames engulfed the whole cabin almost immediately, you couldn’t say where the fire starts or ends – the whole bus was in flames.

“I couldn’t see where I was going because of the flames. I quickly realised that if we kept going, we would all die. That’s when I steered off the road and we came to a stop against a tree.”

President Emmerson Mnangagwa said he was “devastated” to learn of the tragedy, which comes just two weeks after two buses collided in Rusape killing 50 people.

“The thoughts and prayers of a grieving nation go out to the wounded and the families of those killed. We will ensure they get the care and support they require,” Mnangagwa said on Twitter.

Most of the dead were burnt beyond recognition, and police say identifying the remains will require scientific analysis.

The bus had left Zvishavane and stopped in Filabusi for more passengers.

Lazarus Phiri of Nkankezi in Filabusi, who arrived at the accident scene on Friday morning, said he had last seen his wife at around 8PM when he accompanied her to the bus stop, and waved her goodbye. Now he is looking for the words to tell their four children she is not coming home.

“I got a call after midnight from the conductor of the bus telling me my wife had not made it out safely. I’m just so sad that my wife had to die this way. I think back and say only if I had not sent her to buy groceries in Musina. I don’t know how I’m going to tell my last born who is in Grade Zero B that her mother is not coming back,” Phiri said.