Bodies lay covered by blankets in the wet road on Jakes Gerwel Drive on Monday morning after a Golden Arrow bus overturned, killing three people.
Emergency services at the scene, near the Klipfontein Road turn-off, closed the southbound lanes on Jakes Gerwel Drive, and City traffic spokesman Kevin Jacobs said motorists had been advised to seek alternative routes.
Police say they have opened a culpable homicide case to investigate the three deaths, but the cause of the crash is unclear at this stage.
“We’ve heard that the driver was speeding and then heard that the bus’s brakes failed,” said Athlone police station’s visible-policing commander, Colonel Louis Solomons.
Lieutenant Colonel Recardo Hartman, the branch commander of Athlone police’s crime investigating department, said the driver had survived the crash and been taken to Vincent Pallotti hospital.
“We are still busy with investigations,” he said.
Golden Arrow spokeswoman Bronwen Dyke-Beyer did not respond to calls.