KEY POINTS:
The driver of a tourist bus that plunged down a bank on the South Island's west coast yesterday - with 44 people on board - may have fallen from his seat as he reached for a cellphone before the crash, according to witnesses.
Two of the 44 tourists
- many of them young travellers from Britain and Canada - were taken to hospital, with the bus owner, Kiwi Experience, saying their injuries were thought to be moderate. One with a suspected broken arm had been taken to Grey Base Hospital but later discharged, while another woman had been airlifted to Christchurch Hospital where she was being treated for suspected spinal injuries.
Passengers were reported last night as saying the bus driver fell from his seat, possibly while trying to retrieve a cellphone.
"At this stage it looks like driver error, but we have a bit more work to do yet," a West Coast Police spokesman said.
The bus plummeted 30m down a bank in the Fox Hills, south of Franz Josef. Fox Glacier motelier Jack Baithilingham was one of the first on the scene, arriving just minutes after the 8.30am crash.
Three passengers, who'd clambered up the hill to get help, waved him down.
At first he thought a pushbike or car might have gone over the bank but then "I heard people screaming and crying and saw some girl who couldn't walk properly. There was blood and people in shock."
Only the roof of the bus could be seen from the road.
Emergency services could not be contacted because there was no cellphone coverage in the area.
Baithilingham drove off "very fast" to raise the alarm but was passed by a police car 8km along the road on its way to the crash site.
He said the weather conditions were fine and the road was "clear and tidy".
It appeared the driver, who he also understood may have been reaching down to pick up a cellphone before losing control of the bus, had been on the wrong side of the road.
Judy Johnston, who works at the Fox General Store, spoke to several of the young victims.
"A few of them were limping around. One guy had quite a few stitches in his leg, and there were a few scratches and bruises. It must have been frightening for them."
The passengers planned to rest overnight and drown their sorrows in Queenstown, she said.
Dr Martin London, from the Fox Glacier Medical Centre, where around 15 passengers were treated, said all had minor injuries.
"They were fairly upbeat about it," he said.
Most were from Britain, with a few from other European countries, including Sweden and Germany and Canada.
Dr London said it was not uncommon for vehicles to go over banks in the area, which is renowned for steep, winding roads. Dense bush meant most came to a reasonably soft landing.
"The bus might be 30m down but it's not like you've plunged over a cliff. It hasn't dropped 30m, it's just wiggled its way down for that distance."
There would have been fewer injuries if passengers had been wearing seatbelts, he said.
Kiwi Experience group general manager Sue O'Sullivan said the only seats on the European Scania bus fitted with belts were the ones directly behind the driver.
Those seats were required by law to have seatbelts.
She would not comment on the crash until police had finished their investigations and would give no details about the driver but said he was in shock and was traumatised.
He had been driving for the company for a "considerable time".
The accident was near where English tourist Glenys Hounsome and her daughter, Marion, spent two days trapped after their Nissan van rolled down a bank in October.
