The mayor of a local town in north Queensland referred to a section of highway as a ‘country road’ following a fatal bus crash that killed three women. The incident happened on a road near Gumlu, which is south of Townsville.
The Greyhound bus, which was carrying 33 passengers, crashed on the Bruce Highway at around 100km/hr.
Two men, aged 23 and 24, are in a critical condition.
The mayor of the Whitsunday town, Ry Collins, said on Monday that the section of the highway that’s affected by the incident could be challenging.
The road is fairly open, and it’s likely that the vehicles coming from either direction were not able to see each other.
However, a collision between a bus and another vehicle occurred on the highway.
Over 20 people were taken to a local hospital after the incident happened on Sunday morning.
Seven of them were transported to a different hospital due to the nature of the injuries.
Four individuals remain in the hospital, including the two men who are currently in critical condition.
A couple of them, aged 27 and 51, are in stable condition. According to Jason Yates, medical staff acted quickly to attend to the injured people.
He noted that they were aware of the possibility of a mass casualty event, and they were ready to respond.
The team worked incredibly hard, and they were supported by the staff members who showed up over the long weekend.
The medical staff members were able to provide the necessary care to the victims of the tragic incident while also looking after the regular people in the area.
According to the police, the collision between the 4WD and the bus happened as they were traveling in the opposite direction.
The police are still trying to determine the exact cause of the accident.
Superintendent Graeme Paine said that they want to thoroughly investigate the incident before they can start looking into the possible factors that contributed to the crash.
Queensland’s Premier Steven Miles expressed his sadness over the incident.
Miles noted that the people of Queensland were sending their condolences to the families of the victims.
In response to the incident, Greyhound Australia released a statement, saying that it was deeply affected by the news of the crash.