At least 49 people have been killed in the floods that have swept through South Africa's Eastern Cape province as torrential rain and snow have hit parts of the country.
Among the bodies recovered are those of four children, a driver and a conductor who were on a bus that was carried away in flood waters as it was crossing a bridge in the town of Mthatha on Tuesday morning.
The rescue efforts were continuing to find four more children who had been in the vehicle that has since been found on a riverbank with no-one inside.
Three children were rescued alive, found clinging to trees. It is now known that there were 13 people on the bus, 11 of them school children.
Hundreds of residents had been left displaced, many spending the night in makeshift shelters, he said.
Officials said 58 schools in Eastern Cape had been affected across three districts: OR Tambo, Amathole and Alfred Nzo.
In neighbouring KwaZulu-Natal, 68 schools across nine districts have been damaged but no fatalities have been recorded.
The heavy snow, rains and gale force winds have also left nearly 500,000 homes without electricity since Tuesday - and state-owned power provider Eskom says efforts are being made to restore connections.
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has offered his condolences to the families of those who died as he urged citizens to "display caution, care and cooperation as the worst impacts of winter weather take effect across the country".
