364 Foreign Tourists Killed on South African Roads in the Year Ending March

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 28, 2002

364 Foreign Tourists Killed on South African Roads in the Year Ending March

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A total of 364 foreign tourists and visitors were killed on South African roads in eight provinces during the year ending March 31, 2002, South African Transport Minister Dullah Omar said on Wednesday.

Two Belgians injured in a car accident were compensated 30 million rand (3 million US dollars) each from the Road Accident Fund (RAF), while a Briton received 24.8 million rand (2.48 million dollars) for injuries sustained.

The road accident figures excluded KwaZulu-Natal province, as information could not be extracted from the province's system, Omar said in a written reply to a parliamentary question.

A total of 32,522 foreign visitors and tourists were involved in road accidents in the eight provinces for that period, he said.

In addition to the 364 fatalities, 1,781 tourists were seriously injured, 4,027 sustained slight injuries and 26,350 escaped uninjured.

Of the persons killed, 161 were drivers of vehicles, 185 passengers and 18 pedestrians.

Some of these foreign visitors and tourists, or their families,received compensation from the RAF, Omar said.

A total of 341 claims from visitors from 48 countries were submitted and considered over a period of 12 months from Oct. 1, 2001, to Sept. 30, 2002.

Altogether 29 claims for death, 309 for bodily injure, and three unknown cases were submitted, totaling 152.5 million rand (15.25 million dollars), with an average claim value of 446,278 rand (44,627 dollars), he said.

"In this regard it should be noted that some claims are still pending and the figures provided include estimated amounts."

The countries of origin with the highest number of claims -- 54percent of all claims -- were Mozambique (55), Britain (54), Lesotho (21), Germany (20), United States (18), and Swaziland (14).

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