Bus crash kills six

Press, 8 October 1977, Page 8

Bus crash kills six

NZPA-Reuter Melbourne Six elderly women were killed when a tourist bus crashed off a bridge and plunged into a creek near Digger’s Rest, 32km north of Melbourne. Eighteen other South Australian pensioners and the bus driver were in« jured in the crash, and were taken to hospital. One was in a serious condition, and the rest were satisfactory. Four of the dead women were believed to have drowned when the bus landed on its side in kneedeep water in the creek. The others died later in hospital. The bus, operated by Stateliner, Pty, Ltd, of Adelaide, was carrying 23 elderly men and women on a week-long tour organised by the Senior Citizens’ Travel Service in Adelaide. The police say the bus ran out of control at the bottom of a steep hill, hit the railing on one side of the bridge, bounced across the bridge, and through the left-hand railing. The driver told the first rescuers on the scene that the bus’s brakes had failed as he came down the hill approaching the bridge.