School bus crashes into ditch in Taranaki, killing driver

Wednesday, 8 August 2018

The bus was carrying 13 school children when it crashed.

A school bus driver in Taranaki has died after the vehicle crashed down a bank and into a ditch with 13 students on board.

Emergency services were called to the crash on State Highway 3 between Inglewood and Egmont Village at 3.30pm on Wednesday.

Just after 4pm there were two ambulances at the scene.

The driver of the Tranzit bus, 69, was killed in the crash, police said.

The students, aged 12-17, suffered minor injuries, St John Ambulance spokeswoman Chrissy Hamilton said.

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The crash happened on a wet State Highway 3 about 3.30pm.

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Ten of them were taken to Taranaki Base Hospital in New Plymouth, while three were transported to a medical centre in Stratford before being released to their parents.

Emergency services were called to the bus crash south of New Plymouth about 3.30pm and diversions around the scene were quickly put in place.

At 7.20pm one student was still being assessed in Taranaki Base Hospital but was in a stable condition, a hospital spokesperson said.

The police Serious Crash Unit were at the scene.

The route 3022 bus from Inglewood High School was headed to Egmont Village.

Paul Snelgrove of bus company Tranzit Group confirmed the bus was one of theirs.

'It's an incredibly sad time,' he said.

Parents of children who were on bus route 3022 have been asked to go to Inglewood High School. (File photo).

'Our heart goes out to the family of the driver, the kids on the bus.'

Snelgrove said a support team from the company would head to Taranaki overnight.

A bus crashed on State Highway 3 between Lepper Rd and King Rd, south of New Plymouth.

Emergency services were at the scene, and traffic was being diverted at Egmont Village and the intersection of SH3 and Lepper Rd just outside Inglewood.

Police said the road was expected to reopen around 10pm on Wednesday and then close again on Thursday morning so the bus can be removed.

Road conditions at the time of the crash were wet and heavy rain was falling at the scene when emergency services arrived.

There have been two other bus crashes in New Zealand in the past two weeks.

Last Thursday, 19 people suffered injuries after their bus crashed into a ditch on State Highway 1 in Manawatu.

On July 28, a bus crash on Mt Ruapehu killed 11-year-old girl Hannah Francis.

The bus was carrying 31 passengers when it overturned on Ōhakune Mountain Rd, a 17-kilometre road between Mt Ruapehu and Tūroa.

Both crashed buses were of the Mitsubishi Fuso model.

Snelgrove said he did not know the make or model of the bus in Wednesday's crash.