10 Dead, 25 Injured After Bus Carrying Wedding Guests in Australian Wine Region Rolls Over

Hunter Valley bus crash.Photo:DARREN PATEMAN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

DARREN PATEMAN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

10 people have died and 25 have been left injured after a bus carrying wedding guests crashed in Australia on Sunday.

The incident happened in the New South Wales Hunter Valley wine region just after 11:30 p.m. local time, authorities said.

Emergency services were called to a roundabout on Wine County Drive after receiving reports that a coach had rolled over, New South Wales Police said in apress releaseMonday.

The guests had earlier attended a wedding at the Wandin Estate Winery and were traveling to their accommodation in the town of Singleton, Acting Assistant Commissioner Tracy Chapman said in anews conference.

Chapman also described the scene first responders were confronted with as “very traumatic.” “A number of passengers we were able to extract through the front windscreen of the bus,”she said.

The driver — a 58-year-old man who also wasn’t named — was also taken to hospital under police guard. NSW Police said he underwent “mandatory testing and assessment” while there.

He was later transferred to Cessnock Police Station where he was charged “ten counts of dangerous driving occasioning death - drive manner dangerous, and one count of negligent driving (occasioning death).” a release from NSW Police read. The driver’s license was also suspended over the fatal crash and he was refused bail. He will appear at Cessnock Local Court on Tuesday.

Hunter Valley bus crash.DARREN PATEMAN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

A motorist who claimed she drove past the crash scene told ABC,per NBC News, that the driving conditions were very foggy.  “The fog was terrible,” she said. “It was super foggy. You could barely see in front of you.”

7 News Australia reported the wedding was the nuptials of high school sweethearts Mitchell Gaffney and Madeleine Edsell. One guest told the outlet, “It was a nice day, a pretty good wedding … fairy tale stuff really, it was a nice day, and we went to come back and get drunk, and we got the news that there had been a crash, and we all started panicking.”

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Edsell’s cousin Kynan Stanford told 7 News Australia she was with the bride when she learned of the crash. “The bride was pretty much kicking down the door trying to get in the car, saying, ‘Get me there, I need to go’ and we were like, ‘No, you don’t need to go,' " she said.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese offered his condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of those killed in the crash and called it a “tragic day.”

“All of us know the joy of going to a wedding. The chance to celebrate dear friends and family… For a joyous day like that, in a beautiful place, to end in such terrible loss of life and injury, is so cruel and so sad and so unfair,” he said in apress conferenceMonday.

The lights of Vivid Sydney — a light, music and food festival in Sydney — will be switched off for one minute at 7:30 p.m. local time on Monday in honor of the victims. This includes the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge, which will also be plunged into darkness, NSW Police said.

source: people.com