KEY POINTS:
As police await results of a alcohol tests on the driver of a tourist bus which crashed down a bank on the South Island's West Coast, one of his passengers has dismissed talk of heavy drinking.
The Kiwi Experience bus plunged off State Highway 6 and 40m down
a bank at Fox Hills, south of Franz Josef Glacier, on Saturday.
None of the passengers, mostly young overseas travellers, was seriously injured but speculation has grown about what caused the crash.
One passenger, named only as Ollie, now says there was no heavy drinking on the night before the crash.
A group of about eight were in a bar and the driver was in the bar earlier, he told Radio New Zealand.
He said: "As we arrived in the bar, he left the bar. Some of us were drinking tap water, some of us were drinking pints. It wasn't a big night at all."
West Coast Constable Neil Gillespie yesterday said it could take two weeks to get the results of a blood sample taken from the driver to test for alcohol.
"Blood tests were taken just for alcohol content, so obviously we are awaiting for the results of blood tests before charges are laid," Mr Gillespie said.
All passengers have been interviewed by police.
Meanwhile, Kiwi Experience general manager Sue Sullivan said the driver had spoken at length to police after the crash.
"He's still pretty shocked about the crash," Ms Sullivan said.
It has been reported that the driver was trying to recover a lost mobile phone when the bus crashed but Ms Sullivan said the company would not comment until the police investigation had finished.
"He's been interviewed by them but it will be two or three weeks before we get a report about what happened so we really can't comment too much until then."
A police spokesman said yesterday it looked like driver error caused the crash but more investigations were needed.
Ms Sullivan said the passengers were in good spirits.
"There were two taken to hospital, one to Greymouth and one to Christchurch, but they've both been discharged and rejoined the others," she said.
"Police have talked to all of them and we've also spoken to them as a group and one-on-one to see what they want to do.
"All of them have decided to keep going and they will be either in Queenstown or Wanaka tonight."
Ms Sullivan said the bus was still in the gully where it crashed and was likely to be there for a day or two yet until a crane which could winch it out arrived.
- NZPA
