FIVE people, among them a baby, died yesterday morning when the minibus in which they were travelling overturned after a tyre burst.

The 14-seat Quantum minibus overturned on the Western Bypass north of Windhoek, just before the turn-off to Brakwater. According to some of the passengers, a tyre burst and the driver lost control after the trailer overturned.

Three people were killed on impact and a fourth, believed to be the bus driver, died in the ambulance.

His body was taken out of the ambulance and placed next to the road to wait for the mortuary van.

Another 13 people were taken to hospital with minor to serious injuries.

The three people who died on impact were all flung out of the bus. The bus landed on top of one of the victims and the fire brigade had to lift the wreck to recover the body.

Rescue workers also suspected that a baby could be trapped under the bus, but this was not the case, as the baby had been taken to hospital already. The baby, a boy of one year and 8 months, died later in hospital.

The bus was traveling from Windhoek to Oshakati when the accident happened.

Chief Abraham Kanime said it is evident that the passengers were not wearing seat belts, otherwise they would not have been flung out of the bus and killed.