45 Dead After Bus Full of Easter Worshippers Plunges Off Bridge with 8-Year-Old Child Only Survivor

Forty-five people aboard a bus to Easter church service in South Africa's Limpopo province died in a fiery crash, authorities said Thursday.

Only an 8-year-old child survived the crash and has been transported to a nearby hospital, the Limpopo Department of Transport and Community Safety said.

The bus was reportedly transporting people from Botswana, a landlocked country in Southern Africa, to the Limpopo town of Moria for the Easter weekend church service, according to the department.

The driver appeared to have lost control, and the bus fell roughly 55 yards down before catching fire, according to officials. Some bodies were burned “beyond recognition,” the department said, while others were trapped in the debris.