By CAROLINE STRAINIG
THE school community is breathing a big sigh of relief today after no-one was seriously injured in a horrific bus crash on Hastings River Drive on Tuesday afternoon.
More than 30 students from Westport Public, Westport High and Newman Senior Technical College were on the bus when it left the road at speed, hitting a tree and landing in a ditch on its side and sustaining major damage. Children on the bus told witnesses the driver lost control after some sort of seizure, although this has yet to be confirmed.
Nine people including the driver were transported to hospital by ambulance, and a further 25 children were taken via bus to hospital for precautionary assessment.
Early fears were that several of the children had broken bones, but as of yesterday morning only two people remained in hospital. One was a man in his sixties – believed to be the bus driver – and the other was a 16-year-old girl, who was expected to be released within 24 hours. Both were in a stable condition, but the hospital could not release any further information about their injuries.
The accident happened near Fernbank about 3.45pm when the bus was heading west towards Wauchope. After leaving the road, the bus knocked over a tree before landing in a ditch and skidding along on its side. The front sustained severe damage, but the rest remained reasonably intact.
Drivers who stopped to help said all the occupants had managed to exit the bus by the time emergency services arrived.
“Thanks goodness it wasn’t worse,” one eyewitness told the Independent, requesting not to be named. “I was afraid children would have been seriously injured and the fact that they have not been is remarkable.”
Hastings River Drive was closed for some time in the aftermath, with police media issuing an alert for drivers to avoid the area.
Police officers from the Mid North Coast Local Area Command are investigating the cause. No police spokesperson was available yesterday morning to comment, or to confirm or deny the reports the bus driver was taken ill just before the crash.
A spokesperson for the bus company, Busways, said they could not comment on the cause of the accident at this time, as they had yet to debrief the driver or see the security camera footage. However, there was no evidence of mechanical failure.
The accident triggered emergency mode at Port Macquarie Base Hospital, with the hospital calling in extra staff to deal with a possible major trauma situation.
