A van packed with children collided head-on with a minibus full of mourners in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, today killing 17 and injuring another 13.
Police said the minibus of mourners driving from Cape Town seemed to veer onto the wrong side of the road and collided with an open-top van or 'bakkie' packed full of passengers, mostly children, the South African Press Association (SAPA) reported.
Fifteen people, including both drivers, died at the crash site between the towns of Graaff-Reinet and Aberdeen early on Monday morning. Two more died later.
Most of the bakkie's passengers were killed when they were flung from the back of the vehicle, SAPA said.
Police said the driver of the bakkie could have broken the law twice after illegally carrying passengers and also appearing to be a learner after they found a learner's licence by his corpse.
The bakkie owner could face charges of culpable homicide if it could be proved he knew the driver was only a learner, SAPA reported police as saying.
South Africa has some of the world's most dangerous roads, logging about 500,000 crashes each year in which an estimated 10,000 people are killed.