Three children are among 10 Australians seriously injured in a bus crash in Vanuatu that killed three people.
Intensive care paramedic Michael Benjamin, who attended the scene, has told the ABC that the children were among 12 P&O cruise ship passengers hurt in the head-on crash in Port Vila on Monday. Three Ni-Vanuatu were killed.
The children include two boys, aged seven and 11, and a four-year-old girl. The 11-year-old has significant head injuries and has been flown to Noumea, he told the ABC.
Two others have been airlifted to Noumea, where they are receiving specialist care. Some of the Australians have life-threatening injuries, medical authorities say.
Queensland’s Careflight rescue service will fly two of the 10 Australians to Brisbane later on Tuesday where hospital teams are standing by. Asked if it was touch and go for some of the injured, Careflight’s clinical operations director, Emmeline Finn, told reporters: “Yes, it is.”
The crash, in the capital, Port Vila, involved a local commuter bus and a cruise ship tour bus run by a local operator. The spokesman would not comment on the likelihood of any fatalities among the injured Australians, but said: “The injuries are significant – the sort of injuries you’d expect in road trauma.”
“This was a big event for Port Vila. So we made the decision to airlift them to take the pressure off [local] health services.”
Michael Smith, the director of Gold Coast-based Medical Rescue Air Ambulance, said his company was sending two planes to Port Vila to retrieve patients.
He said they had everything from serious head injuries to multiple lower-limb fractures. “It sounds like it was a pretty nasty accident,” he told ABC radio.
The first of his two planes – each equipped with a specialist emergency doctor, intensive care nurse, and critical care paramedic – was expected to land in Port Vila about 8.30am AEST, with the second to leave the Gold Coast later in the day.
P&O said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was aware of the crash, and was providing consular assistance. The families of the injured have also been notified.
Sarah Amy said her grandparents were on the bus. “They are both seriously injured. We are waiting for them to be flown home to get treatment,” she wrote on Facebook.
Danny Bushel said his in-laws were also hurt. “[My] mother-in-law has a compound fracture to her femur, and father-in-law has a broken left arm,” he posted on Facebook.
The P&O spokesman could not provided ages or genders for those hurt, nor say if the crash involved children. The Brisbane-based Pacific Dawn will remain in Port Vila until the medical evacuations are complete.
“Our thoughts are with our guests and families at this time and also with members of the Ni Van community,” P&O said on its Facebook page.
In a new Facebook post on Tuesday morning, P&O said injured passengers were receiving good care in a Port Vila hospital while they awaited medical evacuations.
“We are also receiving strong consular support both in Port Vila and in Noumea as this operation continues,” the company said.
“We thank our other guests who are currently on Pacific Dawn and have expressed their concern for their fellow guests. The captain is updating them on developments.”
