Bus passengers lucky to be alive

Police say passengers on a tour bus are lucky to be alive after a car that was trying to overtake the bus forced it off the road.

The bus, with Chinese delegates on board, was heading to Rotorua on SH28, Harwoods Rd, yesterday about 12.40pm, when the crash happened about 35km northwest of the city.

Taupo Police Senior Sergeant Murray Hamilton said a maroon Honda that tried to overtake the bus before a blind corner had to swerve to avoid an oncoming horse float. It hit the bus, sending both vehicles down a 5m bank.

Hamilton said the passengers on the bus were lucky to be alive after it slid down the bank, ending on its side in a paddock. "They are very fortunate. It could have easily been a multiple fatality."

Eight people from the bus were treated by St John ambulance crew and taken to Rotorua Hospital. The bus driver was the most seriously hurt, with a suspected broken leg, but the passengers suffered only minor injuries.

The four people in the Honda escaped injured. Police said investigations were not finished but the driver was likely to be charged.

Hana Pearson lives near the crash site and watched the bus roll down the bank. She was amazed no one was killed.

"I was heading inside for lunch when I heard this crack, which I assume was the car hitting the bus. I looked over and saw the bus sliding down the bank and crashing through the fence."

Pearson ran to the scene to help and saw the driver crawl out the smashed front windscreen.

All the passengers climbed out of the bus through the front windscreen, in shock but calm, and Pearson helped stem the driver's bleeding until the ambulance arrived. "Some of the passengers were bleeding and crying and hugging each other but no one was panicking."