• A truck and a bus collided head-on in Patryshoek, north of Tshwane.
• 15 people died on the spot, while 37 others were transferred to various Pretoria hospitals.
• At least seven individuals were critically injured, and the death toll was expected to rise.

A bus and a truck crashed on a South Africa highway in the capital Pretoria on Friday, killing fifteen people and injuring 37 others, according to an emergency services spokeswoman.

“The death toll is now 15 dead, and 37 people have been injured, some of them critically,”  added spokesman Thabo Charles Mabaso.

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“Emergency services arrived on scene to find a bus and a truck that collided head-on, with multiple patients lying around and some still trapped inside both vehicles,” according to a statement from emergency services.

At the site, eight women and seven men died, while 37 people were brought to the hospital. According to the statement, seven people were in critical condition.

Throughout the morning, the road was closed. An investigation into the cause of the accident has begun.

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During the recent Christmas holidays, which is South Africa’s busiest summer travel season, about 1,500 people died on the roads.