Mum, baby safe after crash and ... it’s a boy!
A PREGNANT woman has told of her miracle escape from a Gold Coast Hinterland bus crash that left her and 18 others, including a group of Japanese tourists, in hospital.
Natural Bridge woman Jennifer Krause, who is 23 weeks pregnant, said her greatest fear during the ordeal was for her unborn baby.
However, scans after the accident revealed not only that the baby was “great”, but that she was going to have a boy.
“I didn’t know we were having a boy until I had the scans, but it’s OK, because we wanted to know,” she said.
Ms Krause and her family were heading to the Gold Coast when their 4WD spun out of control on treacherous Nerang-Murwillumbah Rd and collided with the tour bus which then caught fire.
Ms Krause’s partner Justin, who was driving the 4WD, and children Leighton, 3, and Hayden, 16, were also taken to hospital, but allowed to go home. Ms Krause was staying in overnight.
The tourists all escaped the crash with minor injuries.
“I was looking down at my phone when the road just went from completely dry to wet and all of a sudden we crashed,” she said yesterday afternoon from her Gold Coast University Hospital bed.
“It happened on a tight bend. We’re just so lucky.”
Fifteen Japanese tourists were on the minibus on their way to Springbrook National Park when the crash happened about 9.20am.
The bus caught fire on impact.
“I was shocked, I couldn’t breathe,” tourist Nanami Fukuda, 18, said. “I didn’t know what was happening.”
About 10 ambulances raced to the scene to find “a lot of patients across the road”, senior paramedic Warren Painting said.
“There was significant damage to the minibus and to the 4WD.”
The victims were transported to Gold Coast University and Robina hospitals, where they were all reported to be in a stable condition.
The section of road has claimed at least 11 lives since 2005 and fire service incident controller Ray Ware said it was fortunate no one was killed yesterday.
“We were very lucky there was no passenger in the front of the bus, just the driver there,” he said.