Authorities have confirmed that 18 Malawians died in a tragic bus accident that occurred on Sunday night in South Africa’s Limpopo Province.

In a statement released Wednesday evening, Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Justin Saidi, said President Peter Mutharika and First Lady Gertrude Mutharika are “deeply saddened by the tragic incident and have conveyed their heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families.”

The statement did not provide any details of the deceased.

Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a statement indicating that 22 Malawians were on board the ill-fated bus.

The bus, which was en route from South Africa to Malawi via Zimbabwe, had over 90 passengers on board, mainly Malawian and Zimbabwean nationals, according to authorities.

It plunged down a mountainous section of the N1 Highway near the town of Makhado in Limpopo Province, killing at least 43 people.

Ironically, authorities in Zimbabwe have released 43 names of their citizens who died in the same accident.

However, an official at the Malawi High Commission in South Africa told Zodiak Online that identifying bodies was a problem as some people had neither passports nor identification documents.

Zodiak further gathered that it was also difficult to identify some bodies due to the severity of the injuries.

In an interview on Tuesday, ministry of Foreign Affairs Joseph Nkhalamba seemed to corroborate this information when he said South African Authorities were conducting a forensic identification of the bodies.

President Mutharika has reaffirmed his government’s commitment to supporting the bereaved families with all necessary funeral arrangements and has wished speedy recovery to those injured in the accident.

The Head of State has also expressed gratitude to the Government of South Africa for the assistance rendered following the accident.