YORKEYS ROAD ACCIDENT CAUSES CHAOS FOR CRUISE SHIP VISITORS
A CRASH between a bus and a car at Yorkeys Knob caused hours of chaos for locals and cruise ship passengers trying get in and out of the beach suburb.
Investigators were yesterday still piecing together what caused the collision between the two vehicles, at the intersection of Yorkeys Knob Rd and Cattana Rd about 9.15am on Saturday.
A couple of Asian tourists, who needed to be cut out of their silver Toyota Avalon, sustained serious injuries in the crash after their vehicle was found in a dry creek bed.
The 27-year-old man and 26-year-old woman remained in Cairns Hospital yesterday in a stable condition.
The bus driver was uninjured but visibly shaken by the accident.
Cairns Bus Charters operations manager Darrell Perks said the driver was one of the company’s most experienced in the region, and also a driving instructor.
“He’s a highly regarded driver in the region, who has a very, very low incident ratio,” he said.
He said the driver was assisting police with the investigation but confirmed the driver returned a negative result for alcohol and drugs.
“He wasn’t fatigued at all; he’d just come off a day and had been operating the coach for three hours prior to the incident,” he said.
Yorkeys Knob Access Rd was closed for several hours and passengers aboard Prin- cess Cruises’ Golden Princess were stranded after the incident. The boat docked at Yorkeys Knob at 7am as part of a 10-day cruise from Sydney.
Yorkeys Knob Boating Club staff were overwhelmed with the number of passengers waiting to get through to Cairns.
A Princess Cruises spokesman said the 2600-passenger Golden Princess left Sydney on October 15.
“Although none of our guests were involved in the accident the necessary road closure has resulted in some disruption of scheduled shore tours and guest shuttle access to and from central Cairns,” he said.