One student has died and 15 people were taken to hospital, some with serious injuries, after a school bus rolled in regional Victoria.
The bus, carrying 28 high school-age students from Christian College Geelong, was turning left on to the Hamilton Highway at Stonehaven, north-west of Geelong, when the incident occurred at about 8.20am on Wednesday, Victoria police said.
A girl died at the scene and a boy was airlifted to the Royal Children’s hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. There were also “numerous students injured”, police said.
The driver of the bus, a 76-year-old Hamlyn Heights man, sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to hospital by road ambulance. He was later discharged and was helping police with inquiries, police said.
Police said the exact circumstances surrounding the collision were yet to be established and an investigation was ongoing.
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The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, extended her “deepest sympathy” to the family and friends of the girl killed on her way to a “regular school day”. She said her thoughts were also with the broader school community, and with the bus driver.
Allan encouraged any members of the public with further information, including dash cam footage, to contact police for their ongoing investigation.
As of Wednesday evening, Victoria’s deputy premier and education minister, Ben Carroll, said two students remained in the RCH, and nine in University hospital Geelong, with a “range of injuries”, including a skull fracture.
“By all reports it was a very horrific scene … it’s been a really, really tragic, harrowing day.”
Paramedics transported 10 patients by road ambulance to University hospital Geelong. An additional 14 patients with minor injuries were assessed on site and transported by bus to the hospital, where three stayed, and the others returned to their families. Another patient presented at the hospital “by private means”, Ambulance Victoria’s statement said.
Detective Snr Sergeant Paul Lineham said on Wednesday afternoon that the bus, from Christian College Geelong, was travelling south along Friend In Hand Road towards the Hamilton Highway, a “routine school pickup”, when it failed to negotiate a left-hand bend and hit the rail on the side of the road, causing the bus to roll over.
Some parents turned up to the scene of the crash and were also looked after by first responders, Lineham said.
He said the bus had seatbelts but investigators were yet to determine where each passenger was sitting.
“The seatbelts will form part of the investigation as to whether they were worn or not,” he said.
Allan and Carroll both thanked first responders for their “professionalism and compassion in such difficult circumstances”.
“This tragedy will weigh heavily on them too – especially in what is already a dark and difficult week,” Allan wrote in a post on X on Wednesday afternoon. “These moments touch us all. They remind us to hold our loved ones a little tighter.”
Dr Mathilda Joubert, the executive principal of Christian College Geelong, confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that the student who died was a pupil of the school.
“This is a profoundly distressing situation for our entire school community,” Joubert said, adding that the school was unable to provide further information while the police investigation continued.
Carroll said on Wednesday evening that the bus was travelling to the school’s three Geelong campuses (among its total five): a junior, middle and senior school. He said the department of education was working to support the school, and that counselling professionals remained on site.
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, member for Corio, had earlier confirmed reports of the death of a student in the crash in a post on X.
He said his “heart breaks hearing the devastating news of a school bus incident and death of a student in my home town of Geelong”.
“I do know this will affect so many in Geelong as we are a tight-knit community,” Marles said.
Jess Wilson, Victoria’s shadow minister for education, said the opposition expressed its “deepest condolences to the students and families impacted by the … unimaginable tragedy”.
– with AAP
