May Day bus tragedy hits SA

It is one of the country's worst traffic accidents

Up to 80 people are feared dead after a coach carrying trade union members plunged into a reservoir in central South Africa.

The bus was taking some 90 people to a May Day rally in Free State when the driver apparently took a wrong turn at 0500 local time (0300 GMT) when it was still dark.

The coach went down a gravel path into the Saulspoort dam near the town of Bethlehem.

Between 65 and 70 bodies have already been recovered, a transport ministry spokesman said.

"I do not think there will be any more survivors than the 10 people we have pulled from the wreckage," police spokesman Sam Sesing told the French news agency, AFP, shortly after arriving in Bethlehem.

The bus has now been pulled out of the reservoir after being submerged for several hours, police say.

Unsafe roads

Those travelling in the coach were all members of South Africa's main labour federation the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).

"Clearly it's a tragedy of major proportions," Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven told the BBC.

Cosatu has called for a week of mourning for the victims, he said.

President Thabo Mbeki observed a minute's silence for the victims at a May Day rally in Johannesburg.

The BBC's Barnaby Phillips says there was a sombre and dejected mood at many of this year's May Day rallies in South Africa.

South Africa's roads have a reputation for being unsafe.

More than 9,000 people are killed on the roads every year, reports Associated Press news agency.

Alcohol, police corruption and unroadworthy vehicles are some of the causes for the high death toll, officials say.