Torrential rain, flooding claim 49 lives in South Africa

JOHHANESBURG: Torrential rains unleashed flooding and landslides that claimed at least 49 lives in South Africa´s Eastern Cape province, including four children on a school minibus that was swept away, provincial authorities said on Wednesday.

The death toll after the severe winter storm struck on Monday was likely to rise and it was not even clear how many people were missing in the largely rural and underdeveloped province, they said. “As of now, the stats have escalated to 49” deaths, Eastern Cape premier Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane told reporters.

They included four children on a school minibus carrying 13 people that was swept away by a flood near the city of Mthatha, Mabuyane said.