Residents who were awoken by a deafening band in the early hours of yesterday morning didn’t think they’d be rushing to help passengers trapped underneath a bus that crashed near their homes in Belmont North.
But, they sprang into action to help when at about 3:45am yesterday morning a bus hit a concrete barrier and flipped on Woomera Avenue – two men were trapped underneath including an 18-year-old who ended up being flown to the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney with suspected spinal injuries.
The other man who was trapped underneath was taken to the John Hunter Hospital with the other three who were injured.
The 61-year-old male bus driver was uninjured but taken to hospital for mandatory testing. The bus driver was wearing a seat belt so it prevented him from sustaining any serious injuries.
Lake Macquarie Police District Chief Inspector Peter Vromans said the residents who rushed to the aid of passengers who were trapped underneath the bus were very brave.
“Before the emergency services arrived there were nearby residents who came out and tried to assist.
“My understanding is that they did help some people get off the bus and as I understand they were communicating with the people who were stuck under the bus as well.
“So their actions were very courageous and useful in quite a difficult environment.
“It’s certainly a great help and obviously potentially a dangerous environment as well so they put themselves at a level of danger to help,
“We are most appreciative of their actions,” he said.
The bus was towed away yesterday in an operation that took emergency services hours. It had CCTV on it which will form part of the investigation.
Anyone who has CCTV footage or dashcam footage from the area nearby around the time of the crash are urged to get in touch with police.
“Our crash investigation unit is on the scene conducting the investigation. They’ll examine everything. We don’t know exactly what the cause was at this stage, obviously it was early in the morning so we’ll be examining all potential factors including fatigue, inattention, speed, that will all form part of the investigation,” said Chief Inspector Vromans.
In a statement, the bus company Keolis Downer said it would be working closely with police and authorities during investigations, and would provide support to the driver, passengers, and their families.
Image: Samuel Hayward Facebook