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Westdene Dam Disaster
The Westdene dam disaster was a bus accident that took place in Westdene, near Johannesburg, South Africa, on 27 March 1985. The driver of the bus was Coloured (mixed-race individual) and the passengers were all white, which caused some contention. Of the 72 occupants, 42 drowned inside the submerged bus and two were declared deceased shortly after being taken to a nearby hospital. The remaining 30, including the bus driver, were rescued. The accident The driver of a double-decker bus, 41-year-old Willem Horne, lost control and the bus crashed through barriers into the Westdene dam, a few kilometres from the centre of Johannesburg. A witness said it appeared that a tyre had blown out, sending the bus swerving into another vehicle before it smashed through a fence and plunged into the reservoir. The bus was transporting students, aged 13 to 17, from the local white Afikaans-language high school (Hoërskool Vorentoe). A student said the bus initially stayed upright but then ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westdene, Gauteng
Westdene is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. Westdene lies between the historic suburb of Sophiatown and Melville with the Melville Koppies West nature reserve to the north of the suburb. Westdene derives its name from its location, literally meaning ''west-valley''. 'West' since it is located west from the city centre and with 'dene' derived from the Old English ''denu'', meaning ''valley''. History Before the 20th century Westdene was originally part of the farm Braamfontein, established in the area in 1853. The farm stretched from Westdene in the west to Houghton in the east and from Newtown in the south to Linden in the north. Various parts of the farm were sub-divided and sold many times over and in 1871 Gerhardus Petrus Bezuidenhout sold his south-western portion of the farm to Frans Johannes van Dijk who in turn sold the land to Johannes Jacobus Lindeque in 1884. The portion of land became known as Lindeque's Portion and would eventually develop into the pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |