Cape Town - Several people were injured, including children, after a Go George bus they had been travelling in was petrol bombed on Protea Road, George, early Wednesday morning.
ER24 spokesperson Russel Meiring said the group of people injured by the blast included four children.
ER24 paramedics arrived on the scene shortly after 6am and found the bus parked on the side of the road outside the school, with numerous passengers sitting on the pavement.
Meiring said eight people sustained minor to moderate burns wounds.
The patients were treated at the scene and later transported to nearby hospitals.
George Municipality confirmed that a petrol bomb was thrown into a bus in Protea Road, Pacaltsdorp.
“According to early reports, 14 passengers have been taken to hospital by ambulance – five of them have been treated for burn wounds and nine for shock.”
The police were still investigating the incident.
Go George manager Morné Lakay said the George Integrated Public Transport Network would assist the police with information and CCTV footage.
The motive for the attack was currently unknown and under investigation. However, the attack comes just days after the municipality announced that the Go George bus service would be rolled out in phases in Thembalethu.
Elsewhere, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has been granted a final interdict against the Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations (Codeta) over its illegal blockade of learner transport in the province.
The interdict prevents Codeta from obstructing, interfering and stopping learners from being transported to and from schools.
This comes after thousands of learners had been prevented from accessing their schools in the past few weeks in Khayelitsha and Mfuleni.
According to Education MEC David Maynier, the taxi associations are demanding scholar transport contracts without following due tender processes.
WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said: “The WCED is not aware of any learners having been on the (Go George) bus.”