A man has been charged with dangerous driving after at least 10 wedding guests died in a bus accident in Australia, reports RTE.
It was the worst bus accident in the country in almost 30 years.
Twenty-five people were injured in an accident near the town of Greta, about 180km north-west of Sydney, around 11:30pm local time.
A bus carrying 35 passengers veered off the road at a roundabout and overturned after a wedding in the Hunter region, a rural area known for its vineyards and wedding venues.
According to police, the driver, a 58-year-old man, was taken to the hospital for mandatory drug tests. He was refused bail and is expected to appear in court tomorrow, reports RTE.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed his “deepest sympathies” to the families of those 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, reports RTE.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb said police are treating the accident as a single vehicle accident and the cause may not be known for some time.
Local residents gathered to pay their respects and to lay flowers near the crash site.
“When we heard about it this morning, it was like, oh my god, it’s way too close to home. And a wedding, one of the happiest days of your life and turns into one of the most tragic days of your lives,” Kim Greko told reporters, reports RTE.
The Wandin Valley Estate winery, where the wedding took place, was closed today for a public holiday, Australian Broadcasting Corp said.
“We are deeply saddened to hear of the bus crash overnight that has claimed the lives of some of our guests,” ABC reported, citing a statement from the vineyard, reports RTE.
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