Emergency services say it's possible the roadside may have crumbled beneath the wheels of the Stray Travel coach. Photo / Rod Ell
A 62-year-old British woman was killed when the tourist bus she was travelling in crashed in the Buller District yesterday.
Police said the United Kingdom national who had been living in Spain was killed instantly when the Stray Travel bus she was travelling on rolled over a bank
on State Highway 6 at Charleston, 27km south-west of Westport, at about 3.50pm.
The bus carrying 17 overseas tourists came to rest against a tree approximately 20 metres below the roadway.
One passenger was air lifted to Greymouth Base Hospital in critical condition.
Six other passengers were also injured and taken to hospital.
The remaining passengers were taken to the Westport Fire Station for assessment.
The driver, a 36 year old man, was interviewed by Westport Police.
The Nelson Serious Crash Unit and Commercial Vehicle Investigation Unit from Christchurch were called in to assist with the investigation.
The dead woman's name has not been released.
- NZPA
Crashes in the past
Yesterday's incident was not the first backpacker bus crash in the Charleston area. A Kiwi Experience bus carrying 25 people crashed into a concrete bridge near the community in October 1996, injuring seven.
Among the string of incidents involving backpacker buses since then are:
* August 1997, Waipapakauri Bay
Nine people aboard a bus required hospital treatment after it rolled north-west of Kaitaia.
* April 1998, Arrowtown
A bus and van collided near Arrowtown. No injuries.
* April 1999, West Coast
Fifteen passengers were injured when their tour bus overturned south of Hokitika.
* July 2003, Christchurch
A man was killed when his car collided with a tour bus. An icy windscreen was partly to blame.
* April 2007, West Coast
A bus carrying 44 passengers plunged 40m down a bank south of Franz Josef. Two were taken to hospital, another 15 suffered less serious injuries.
