Six people died after a petrol bomb was thrown at a bus transporting them to work at a mine outside Burgersfort, Limpopo. Photo: Twitter / @SAPoliceService
• Editor's note: This article is updated each time new information becomes available.

JOHANNESBURG The Modikwa platinum mine in South Africa has halted production after six workers en route to the operation were burnt to death in a petrol bomb attack on a bus, a spokeswoman for African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) said on Tuesday.

Six mineworkers were killed after the bus they were travelling in was set alight in Limpopo on Monday evening.

The six, four men and two women, were burnt beyond recognition while 28 others were rushed to hospital for burn wounds.

The South African Police Service said the bus was carrying about fifty mineworkers when it was torched.

Police said the motive for the crime was unknown at this stage.

“Preliminary investigations indicate that the Segweka bus service was busy collecting Modikwa platinum mineworkers going for a night shift, between 20:00 and 21:00 on Monday,” police said in a statement.

“When the bus stopped at Driekop bus stop, two unknown suspects got into the bus and set it alight, using a highly flammable liquid. They then jumped out, leaving behind the bus already engulfed in huge flames.

“Members of the Forensic Fire Unit of the South African Police Service from Pretoria have been summoned to the scene.”

A reward of up to R500, 000 has been offered “for any valuable information that can lead to the arrest and possible conviction of the suspects responsible for this heinous crime.” </s> Six people were killed and 28 others were injured when criminals hurled the petrol bomb at the bus on Monday night.

JOHANNESBURG - Limpopo police have arrested five people in connection with this week's deadly petrol bomb attack on a bus carrying mineworkers in Driekop.

Six people were killed and 28 others were injured when criminals hurled the petrol bomb at the bus on Monday night, while the miners were leaving the Modikwa Platinum Mine outside Burgersfort.

Police set up a high-level team of investigators immediately after the attack.

Although the suspects have been arrested, the motive behind the crime is still unknown.

The police's Motlaefela Mojapelo says they are expected to appear in court on Thursday.

“They were nabbed at different locations by the high-level team that was assembled.” </s> Six miners were killed in South Africa's northern province of Limpopo when a suspected petrol bomb was thrown into their bus, police said Tuesday, adding no motive was known for the attack.

"The bus immediately caught fire, instantly killing six people on board and injuring several others," police said in a statement.

The bus was carrying night-shift workers to a platinum mine on Monday evening when it was attacked outside the town of Burgersfort.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) called for police to investigate and arrest those responsible, saying there had been a number of recent violent incidents in the area.

"The bus was carrying 39 workers who were going to work at Modikwa Platinum Mine when it was petrol-bombed," NUM official Phillip Mankge said.

"Six workers were burned beyond recognition and the other workers had to escape through windows.

"We also do not know what is the motive of the attack on those innocent workers who were going to work." DM </s> Twelve people were burnt to death in a horror smash between Bethlehem and Fouriesburg early on Saturday morning, Free State's department of police, roads and transport said.

"A BMW collided with two mini buses and 11 people in the minibus burned beyond recognition and the driver of the BMW also died," said spokesperson Hillary Mophethe on the department's Facebook page.

She said law enforcement agencies were at the scene and more information would be provided when a full report is released.

The department repeatedly calls for vigilance and extra caution on the roads in the province. The accident occurred on one of the main routes to Lesotho. </s> Fire swept through a passenger bus in Zimbabwe, killing more than 40 people and injuring at least 20, some of whom suffered severe burns, authorities said Friday.

A photograph posted on Twitter by the Zimbabwe Red Cross shows the remains of the bus that was completely incinerated late Thursday. The Red Cross said its teams responded to a "horrific accident" involving a bus heading to neighboring South Africa at around midnight.

"Combustible material was allowed onto the bus, thus causing a conflagration which entrapped, scalded and consumed innocent passengers," President Emmerson Mnangagwa said in a condolence message.

Mnangagwa said the government should "take appropriate measures which comprehensively deal with this growing menace on our roads."

The accident happened in Gwanda district, about 550 kilometers (340 miles) south of Harare, Zimbabwe's capital.

Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba confirmed a death toll of more than 40.

Last week, a collision between two buses in Zimbabwe killed 50 people and injured about 80. </s> Gunmen have shot dead eleven people in a minibus as they travelled home from a funeral.

All the victims were part of a taxi drivers’ association, and had been paying tribute to a colleague.

Four others were critically injured in the ambush, which happened between the towns of Colenso and Weenen in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa.

Police are investigating the motive for the attack.

Tensions between groups of taxi drivers vying for the same routes sometimes spill into deadly violence in South Africa.

South African media reported the deaths of 10 people in violence related to rivalries among minibus taxi drivers in Cape Town over one weekend in May.

Police Brig. Jay Naicker said the victims were from Gauteng province and had been travelling back to Johannesburg.

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MORE: Pilot branded ‘hero’ after making emergency landing when hailstones destroyed plane </s> HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Police say a bus accident in Zimbabwe has killed more than 40 people and injured at least 20, some with severe burns. </s> Image copyright Reuters Image caption The bus was completely destroyed in the fire

At least 42 people are confirmed to have died in a fire aboard a bus in Zimbabwe late on Thursday.

The bus was near travelling near Beitbridge, close to the border with South Africa, when the blaze began.

The company that owned the vehicle, Brooklyn Buses, said it believed that a gas canister brought on board by a passenger may have caused the incident.

Many of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition and more than 20 survivors have been taken to hospital.

The driver, who survived the fire, said that he pulled over to the side of the road after detecting a "strange smell", a police spokeswoman told AFP news agency. When he turned on the lights to investigate, the bus burst into flames, she added.

Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa said he was "devastated" to hear of the incident, which comes a week after 47 people were killed in a bus collision in the east of the country.

He urged drivers to take extra care while on the roads. </s> At least 13 people were dead in South Africa after a collision involving three vehicles on Saturday, news website eNCA reported.

Transport authority spokesperson Hilary Mophete told eCNA that a driver allegedly drove off the road, sideswiping a minibus and then colliding head on with a second bus.

The second bus burst into flames, killing 11 persons; the driver of the car and one passenger in the first minibus also died and six people were injured while three were severely injured.

The accident happened in Free State, a province in the country’s centre.
Police say a firebombing of a bus in Driekop, South Africa, killed six people.