By PETER DE GRAAF
AT LEAST nine people were injured, one seriously, when a bus plunged into a ditch near Paihia yesterday.
The bus was returning from a day trip to Ninety Mile Beach and Cape Reinga with 21 people on board when the accident happened about 5.50pm.
The Dune Rider bus -
an ex-army, four-wheel-drive Unimog - was on Puketona Rd, just a few kilometres from Paihia, when it careered off the road.
A witness reported a loud pop before the crash and believed a burst tyre was to blame.
A 23-year-old woman was airlifted to Whangarei Hospital by the Northland Electricity Rescue Helicopter with suspected spinal injuries. Others followed by ambulance, as Bay of Islands Hospital was quickly overwhelmed.
Sergeant Pat Davis, of Kawakawa Police, said all but the 23-year-old tourist were able to clamber out of the bus where it lay on its side in a ditch. Her injuries were not thought to be life-threatening, but she was flown to Whangarei, accompanied by her father, as a precaution. The tour company organised a shuttle to take the rest of her family to Whangarei.
All on board, including the driver, were very shaken, he said.
A Puketona Rd resident, who did not want to be named, said she was in her garden about 50m away when the crash happened.
"There was a big pop of a tyre bursting, then a scraping noise ... Then I heard something crashing through the trees. It was pretty scary."
The bus had rolled onto its side and dropped 3-4m into the ditch, she said.
St John Northland operations manager Donna Austin said five ambulances were sent to the crash. Three patients were taken to Whangarei by road with moderate injuries, while a 14-year-old and three passengers in their 50s went to Bay of Island Hospital with back pain and lacerations. The rest were checked and treated at the scene.
It was too early to say what caused the crash, but early indications were that a mechanical fault made the bus leave the road, he said.
The Police Serious Crash Unit is investigating.
