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One dead after Taranaki school bus crash

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff,
Publish Date
Wed, 8 Aug 2018, 3:49PM
There were fourteen people on board at the time of the crash. (Photo / Newstalk ZB)
There were fourteen people on board at the time of the crash. (Photo / Newstalk ZB)

One dead after Taranaki school bus crash

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff,
Publish Date
Wed, 8 Aug 2018, 3:49PM

One person has died following a bus crash on State Highway 3 in Inglewood this afternoon.

The person who died was the 69-year-old male bus driver.

There were 13 passengers aged 12-17 on the bus at the time of the crash.

Ten passengers have been taken to Taranaki Base Hospital where they are being assessed.

Three other passengers were taken to a local media centre to be assessed and have now been released to their parents.

State Highway 3 remains closed as inquiries into the circumstances surrounding the crash are ongoing.

Police can confirm the bus involved in the crash was a school bus carrying 15 passengers.

The bus was Route 3022 and parents of children who were on this bus have been asked to go to Inglewood High School.

A police spokesperson said the bus had gone off the road, down the side of a bank and into a ditch.

A Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman said four appliances were attending the incident. He said there were no reports of people trapped.

A St John spokeswoman said there were six ambulances and one intensive-care paramedic on scene assessing the passengers.

She said all 15 passengers have minor injuries.

Four of the patients were going to a medical centre in Stratford, while all the others were to be transported by van and ambulance to Taranaki Base Hospital.

Traffic is being diverted at the intersection of State Highway 3 and Lepper Rd.

The road conditions are wet and rain is falling in the area.

The serious crash unit is en-route, and not expected on site until after 7pm this evening.

An Inglewood High School spokesperson said all they knew was that there had been a crash involving a school bus.

She said police had informed them they were bringing students back to the school.

 

 

Inglewood High School posted on Facebook saying, "Please be aware that the Egmont Village Bus has been involved in an accident.

"This is a developing scenario but as far as we are aware, no-one has been injured.

"We have been told that the police will be ferrying students back to Inglewood High School. This is all we know at present. We will keep you updated.

"Please refrain from coming down to the school. Thank you for your consideration and patience as we work through this unexpected situation."

It is the latest bus crash after a string of bus incidents on New Zealand roads within the last month.

Last Thursday 19 people were injured after the bus they were travelling in crashed into a ditch by State Highway 1 in the Manawatu.

Another bus crash on Mt Ruapehu killed 11-year-old girl Hannah Francis after the vehicle she was travelling in rolled near TÅ«roa skifield on July 28.

Both buses involved in the Manawatū ditch and Mt Ruapehu crashes were Mitsubishi Fuso models from the 1990s. The group travelling through State Highway 1 in the Manawatū was carrying an iwi group that had travelled to Parliament to protest the Pare Hauraki Treaty settlement deed signing.

Police said then that six people were taken to Palmerston North Hospital with moderate injuries and 13 went to Whanganui Hospital with minor injuries.

The 1994 Mitsubishi Fuso bus that crashed and killed Francis had failed nine inspections between 2006 and 2016.

It has been reported that the bus' brakes failed before crashing into a bank and rolling.

More to come.

 

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