Footage shows the site of a bus crash, where 10 people from a wedding party were killed, in Cessnock, in Australia’s Hunter wine region north of Sydney (Picture: Getty)
At least 10 people were killed after a bus carrying wedding guests in Australia rolled over in bad weather.
Around 25 people were also injured after the bus turned on its side on Monday at around 11.30pm at a roundabout on Wine Country Drive in the town of Greta in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales state north of Sydney.
The bus driver, a 58-year-old man, was arrested after mandatory hospital tests.
He is being held at a Cessnock police station and will be charged, police assistant commissioner Tracy Chapman has said.
Ms Chapman would not detail the allegations, including whether speed was a factor, but told reporters ‘there is sufficient information… for us to establish that there will be charges’.
A police spokeswoman told reporters that there was ‘sufficient information for us to establish there will be charges’ taken against the driver.
The bus reportedly ‘rolled’ off a ramp at a roundabout, with two of the injured being airlifted to hospital.
Emergency services at the scene where police believe at least 10 people were killed (Picture: Getty)
Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Tracy Chapman said the driver may be charged with driving offences (Picture: AFP)
It is understood 18 passengers were unhurt.
Ms Chapman of New South Wales Police said it was a ‘possibility’ that the number of people killed may rise, as more passengers may be trapped underneath the overturned bus.
The bus had been taking about 50 guests back from a wedding to their accommodation at the time.
Family and friends arrived at the crash site on Monday morning – but police say they are still trying to identify everyone who was on the bus.
One wedding guest told reporters: ‘It was a nice day, a pretty good wedding … fairytale stuff really … we got the news that there had been a crash, and we all started panicking.’
The guests had earlier attended a wedding at the Wandin Estate Winery and were heading for their accommodation in the town of Singleton, Ms Chapman said.
One guest told Seven News it had been a nice day and a fairy-tale wedding.
A motorist who drove past the crash scene, identified by Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) only as Alison, said the fog was so heavy she could not make out the colours of the flashing lights of police cars, ambulances and fire trucks.
‘The fog was terrible,’ she told the ABC. ‘It was super foggy. You could barely see in front of you.’
Of the 25 people injured, 21 remained in hospitals late on Monday morning local time and one was in a critical condition, the state government said.
There were also 18 people on the bus that were uninjured (Picture: AFP)
The conditions of the others were described as stable. Another 18 passengers were uninjured.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese thanked first responders and offered government support to victims and their families, saying the ‘mental scars of this will not go away’.
‘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.
‘People hire a bus for weddings in order to keep their guests safe. And that just adds to the unimaginable nature of this tragedy,’ he added.
Jay Suvaal, the mayor of Cessnock, said the crash was ‘truly horrific’.
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The crash happened at around 11.30pm last night.
