At least 24 people were reportedly killed when a double-decker bus carrying about 80 passengers crashed in a mountain area near Cape Town, local reporters say.

Majority of the casualties were women and children who were returning to Cape Town from a church gathering in the northern Mpumalanga province.

Initial reports said the brakes failed on the bus, which left the road and overturned in the Hex River Pass by the side of the road.

Rescue officials used a crane to lift the bus and free those trapped underneath and rush those injured in an emergency ambulance to hospital.

More than 40 of the passengers were taken to hospital also mostly women and children which most of them are in critical condition.

“The driver collided with the mountainside so they had to cut some of the body parts of the bus to free the people that were trapped inside,” Western Cape health spokeswoman Faiza Steyn told the AFP news agency.

Police officials were not available to comment on the accident but an anonymous source according to local reports has it that the police are investigating the real cause of the accident.

Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News

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