Trees stop out-of-control bus

Passengers on a Whangarei commuter bus have two old trees to thank for stopping them hurtling down a 50-metre bank when the bus left the road yesterday.
The Whangarei Bus Services bus veered off Old Onerahi Rd on to a footpath, ploughed through a pipe and netting fence and collided with the trees, just before midday.
Nine passengers and the driver managed to clamber out a smashed window as the 10.5-metre-long bus lay on its side. Police say two old wattle trees prevented the bus from tumbling further down the bank.
A woman with minor injuries and her seven-week-old baby, who sustained moderate injuries, were taken to Whangarei Hospital. Another woman in her 40s was also taken to hospital with moderate injuries. Other passengers were treated at the scene for cuts from glass.
A crane was used to lift the bus back on to the road before it was towed back to the city where it was to undergo an extensive mechanical check. As the crane hoisted the bus skyward it was revealed a four-metre-long pipe had impaled the front window, narrowly missing the driver and front-seat passenger.
Bus driver Rachelle Lang thought she was going to die as she lost control of the steering going down a relatively straight stretch of road. "I had no control. There was no way I could bring it back on to the road," she said.
"It was like it was just sliding and I had no control over it."
As the bus veered off the road Ms Lang prayed the trees looming up in front of her would save them. "I was just hoping we would get stuck in them and not start rolling." She has been driving for the company for five years and was very familiar with the route.
Whangarei Bus Services owner Gavin Roberts said the bus had just returned to the road after a full service on Monday. He said another bus would be used on the route.
A 75-year-old passenger, who wanted to be known as Doug, was sitting in the front seat on the left side of the bus when it crashed.
"We were going along and that was it. We went off the road," Doug said. "We weren't going fast. I hardly moved out of my seat. I feel kind of lucky not to be hurt."
Doug had helped a woman and her baby out of the bus before he was helped out the window.
A loud bang was heard by people in Kokich St just above the crash site. Carl Langridge said he had heard a loud crash and then people screaming. "I ran down through the bushes and saw people climbing out through the window."