Easter: 45 on pilgrimage roast as bus crashes, goes ablaze

At least some 45 worshippers were feared roasted alive in Limpopo, South Africa, as a bus conveying them to an Easter pilgrimage crashed on a mountain pass and busted into flames.

According to local authorities, the bus plunged off a bridge and busted into flames on Thursday, March 28, 2024.

AfricaNews report showed that the Easter accident killed at least 45 people with only one surviving.

The sole survivor, an 8-year-old child, was said to be receiving medical attention, according to northern Limpopo province authorities.

What the local authorities say

MSN report, citing local authorities, further confirmed that the child was seriously injured.

Narrating the incident, the Limpopo provincial government said that the bus veered off the Mmamatlakala bridge.

It, thereafter, dropped to a depth of 50 meters into a ravine, as the driver lost control, before busting into flames.

The bus, it was believed, was traveling from Botswana to the town of Moria hosting an Easter.

The Zionist Christian Church hosting the pilgrimage, has its headquarters in Moria.

Yearly, the Church holds an Easter pilgrimage that attracts hundreds of thousands of worshippers.

South African government, including the Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga, and the president, Cyril Ramaphosa, have expressed condolences over the accident.

The government lamented that more than 200 people died in road crashes during Easter holidays last year.

About Easter

Easter, also known as Pascha (in Aramaic, Greek, and Latin), or Resurrection Sunday, is a significant Christian festival and cultural holiday.

It claims to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, as described in the New Testament.

According to the biblical account, this miraculous event occurred on the third day after Jesus was killed.

Jesus, it could be recalled, was killed by Roman authorities at Mount Calvary in the year 33 AD.

Easter does not fall on a fixed date, contrary to the Jewish Passover from which it was acclaimably derived.

(The Passover was celebrated every Nisan 14 of the Jewish calendar regardless of the day.)

Easter’s timing is determined by a lunisolar calendar, which is similar to the Jewish calendar, by the way.

The First Council of Nicaea (in 325 AD) established rules for calculating the date, emphasizing independence from the Jewish calendar and worldwide uniformity.

Some reliable religious/historical sources, however, dissociate Christianity from Easter, saying it is pagan in nature.

One such source stated that a series of pagan festivals and rituals to mark the Spring Equinox gravitated into Easter.

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