At least 10 people died and 25 were injured after a chartered bus carrying wedding guests rolled over at a roundabout in Australia's New South Wales state, police said on Monday.
The accident occurred at about 11:30pm on Sunday near the town of Greta about 180km north-west of Sydney, in the Hunter Valley region famous for its vineyards and wedding venues.
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Women lay flowers on the side the road, about 500 metres from the site of the bus crash. AFP -
New South Wales premier Christopher John Minns, right, listens to Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Tracy Chapman give a press conference. AFP -
A roadblock 500 metres from the site of the crash. AFP -
The scene of the accident near Greta. EPA -
The bus, which overturned at a roundabout. EPA -
Emergency crews at the scene. AP -
Ms Chapman speaks to the media. EPA -
The bus lies on its side in a still from from video footage provided by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. AFP
“I understand they had been at a wedding together, it's my understanding they were travelling together … presumably for their accommodation,” NSW Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Tracy Chapman said during a televised media briefing.
At this stage, it appeared to be a single-vehicle accident, Ms Chapman added.
Police were still trying to identify all the passengers, she said.
Footage on Australian media showed the bus lying on its side. Some people could be still trapped beneath the vehicle, police said.
The driver of the bus, a 58-year-old man, was under arrest and was expected to be charged over the accident, Ms Chapman said.
He had been taken to hospital for mandatory alcohol and drug testing.
The two worst bus accidents in the country were head-on collisions within two months of each other in 1989 that killed 35 and 21 people, both in NSW state.
Eighteen people died in 1973 when a tourist bus plunged down a slope after a brake failure.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed his “deepest sympathies” to the families of the people killed and injured.
“All of us know the joy of going to a wedding … they are some of the happiest times that you can have. For a joyous day like that in a beautiful place to end with such terrible loss of life and injury is so cruel and so sad and so unfair,” Mr Albanese told reporters.
Local residents gathered to pay tributes and lay flowers near the scene of the accident.
