Tūroa crash: Driver couldn't stop the bus as it went down the hill

Monday, 30 July 2018

The driver of a bus that crashed near Tūroa, killing one, has echoed shaken passengers' stories - that the bus sped up, and he was unable to stop it. 

The Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL) bus, carrying 31 passengers, overturned at the 9-kilometre mark on Ōhakune Mountain Rd, which runs 17km up Mt Ruapehu to Tūroa, just after 2.30pm on Saturday.

RAL chief executive Ross Copland said he had spoken to the driver on Sunday night. The driver is in a stable condition and has serious bruising, but has since been discharged from hospital.

'His story is not inconsistent with the passengers', that the bus sped up and he wasn't able to slow the bus.'

READ MORE: Passengers say brakes failed on bus that rolled at Tongariro National Park

'At the 9km-mark the road widens and his goal was to bring it to rest there.'

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Copland said it was still unclear what the cause of the crash was. The bus has since been taken to Whanganui and the police serious crash unit is investigating.

'We're as anxious anyone to understand the what outcome of serious crash unit investigation is.'

Passengers said as the bus gathered speed, they prepared for the worst.

An 11-year-old girl died shortly after the bus flipped, throwing passengers on to the road. About 20 others were injured, at least four with moderate or serious injuries.

Passenger Fenella Murphy told 1 News: 'Every time the driver stepped on the brakes it just made a funny noise and we knew that something wasn't right.

'There were people shouting, like, 'If you've got helmets, put them on'. 

'Yeah we were sort of preparing for the worst and all the people who were sitting at the front, the children especially, were moved to the back of the bus.'

Murphy told Stuff: 'The bus was travelling from Tūroa skifield heading back down to Ōhakune when the brakes suddenly failed and we were speeding down the hill for at least 30 seconds to a minute before we hit the side of the bank and [the bus] flipped and rolled, ending up on its left side on the side of the road.

'My girlfriend Aleisha Cope and I were the last passengers left at the scene to be taken by ambulance to the Ōhakune St John station, before being taken to Whanganui Hospital.

'Luckily we have walked away with minor injuries. However the whole experience was very traumatic,' Murphy said.

'My heart goes out to the family of the child who didn't make it.'

Aleisha Cope told 1 News it looked like the bus might go over a bridge. 'I saw the bridge ahead and I thought, like, this is it. We're going to die … we're going to go over that bridge and we're going to fall and this is it … this is the end,' Cope said.

Stuff has also been told by two other witnesses who arrived on the scene soon after the crash that survivors had said the brakes on the bus had failed.

Those on the bus had allegedly been told to brace for impact moments before the crash, and one man had leapt from the vehicle just before it tipped over, two witnesses who helped survivors said.

FIGHT TO SAVE GIRL

An 11-year-old girl died while being flown to hospital on the Taranaki Community Rescue Helicopter soon after take-off from the scene. That chopper was then diverted to Taumarunui.

St John spokeswoman Chrissy Hamilton said two intensive care paramedics were on board the Taranaki chopper working frantically to save the girl when she died.

'They would have been doing everything in their power to save her. Sadly, this is the reality of our work.'

Hamilton said she and her colleagues were pleased with how the impromptu triage centre set up at Ōhakune had operated, and the other people injured in the crash had been treated as quickly and effectively as possible.

'The local community there really rallied around and helped us.'

Waikato District Health Board spokeswoman Lydia Aydon said on Sunday morning that a 20-year-old man, a 29-year-old woman and a 31-year-old woman were taken to Waikato Hospital. They were all in a stable condition and recovering in the wards.

Ruapehu District mayor Don Cameron said the young girl's death was an immeasurable loss for her family. His thoughts were with them, and with everyone who experienced the ordeal.

'We are a small community, and we are in shock.'