Driver dies, teens injured after school bus crashes

A man has died after a school bus carrying teenagers left the road and crashed into a ditch on State Highway 3 in Inglewood.

The man who died was the 69-year-old bus driver.

Police said 13 passengers aged 12-17 were on the bus at the time of the crash at 3.30pm yesterday and suffered mostly minor injuries.

They were students from Inglewood High School. Ten were taken to Taranaki Base Hospital and nine of those were later discharged while the other three were taken to a local medical centre to be assessed. One teenager remained in a stable condition in hospital last night.

A Tranzit Coachlines spokeswoman confirmed a Tranzit school bus was involved in the incident.

“Our manager has been on site with the school and we are waiting to hear from emergency services who were at the accident site,” she said.

A police spokesperson said the bus had gone off the road, down the side of a bank and into a ditch.

Inglewood High School posted on Facebook saying, “please be aware that the Egmont Village Bus has been involved in an accident.

“We have been told that the police will be ferrying students back to Inglewood High School. This is all we know at present. We will keep you updated.”

Inglewood Primary School Board of Trustees chairman Grant Kenny posted on the school’s Facebook page to tell parents that no Inglewood Primary School pupils were travelling on the bus.

“Our thoughts are with everyone at this time,” he wrote.

The incident is the second fatal bus crash in a fortnight and the third serious crash involving a bus.

Last Thursday, 19 people were injured after the bus they were travelling in crashed into a ditch by State Highway 1 in the Manawatu. They were an iwi group travelling home from Parliament after protesting the Pare Hauraki Treaty settlement deed signing.

On July 28, a bus crash on Mt Ruapehu killed Hannah Francis, 11, and injured 18 others after the bus lost control and rolled near Tu¯ roa skifield. Both buses in the Manawatu¯ and Mt Ruapehu crashes were Mitsubishi Fuso models from the 1990s.