Tracy Chapman, a New South Wales police superintendent, mentioned emergency officers responded to experiences of a crash round 11.30 p.m. Sunday native time and arrived to discover a “confronting and really traumatic scene.”
The bus overturned close to a roundabout connecting the picturesque Hunter Valley wine area to an expressway.
Chapman mentioned forensic investigators remained on the crash website on Monday morning, and it was doable that extra victims may nonetheless be pinned below the wreckage.
“We’re nonetheless making an attempt to determine the entire folks on the bus,” Chapman mentioned. She declined to specify the ages of the passengers, however she mentioned that no youngsters had been on board.
Chapman mentioned it was too early to reveal the reason for the crash, however the driver has been arrested and brought to an area police station after earlier being taken to a hospital for obligatory testing.
“There’s enough info for us to determine that there might be costs. However I gained’t go into the element about these right now,” Chapman mentioned at a information convention.
She mentioned the bus passengers had attended a marriage Sunday at Wandin Property — a well-liked vineyard and wedding ceremony venue — and had been heading to Singleton, a city about 20 miles away, to remain the evening.
All Australians waking as much as tragic information from the Hunter ship our deepest sympathies to the family members of these killed on this horrific bus tragedy.
For a day of pleasure to finish in such devastating loss is merciless certainly.
Our ideas are additionally with those that have been injured.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) June 11, 2023
“All of us know the enjoyment of going to a marriage, an opportunity to have a good time pricey family and friends. They’re among the happiest instances which you can have,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese mentioned at a information convention on Monday. “For a joyous day like that in a lovely place to finish with such horrible lack of life and harm is so merciless and so unhappy and so unfair.”
He promised to offer assist to the victims and their households.
On its web site, the vineyard guarantees an “unmatched” expertise with the “good mix of Hunter magnificence, aromatic settings, seasonal native delicacies, the best wines.”
The vineyard didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. In a press release posted on Instagram, Wandin Property mentioned it was “deeply saddened to listen to of the bus crash in a single day that has claimed the lives of a few of our friends.” It supplied its “heartfelt condolences” to the household and pals of the victims.
Clayton Barr, an area lawmaker, described the street the place the crash occurred as “well-lit” with a very good street floor and a low pace restrict.
“It’s only a reminder of how fragile our lives are once we’re out on the street actually,” he informed Australia’s 9 tv community.