By Renju Jose
SYDNEY (Portal) A man was charged with dangerous driving on Monday after at least 10 wedding guests died on the bus they were traveling on in what was Australia’s worst bus accident in 30 years, police said.
Twentyfive people were injured in the accident around 11:30 p.m. Sunday near the town of Greta, some 180 km northwest of Sydney, police said.
The 35passenger bus went off the road and overturned at a roundabout after attending a wedding in the Hunter region, a rural area known for its vineyards and wedding venues.
According to police, the driver, a 58yearold man, was taken to hospital for a mandatory drug test. Bail was denied and he is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed his “deepest condolences” to the families of those killed and injured.
“We all know the joy of attending a wedding… it’s some of the happiest moments one can have. It is very cruel, sad and unfair to end a joyful day like this in a beautiful place with terrible loss of life and injury,” Albanese told reporters.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb said police were treating the case as a single vehicle accident and the cause may only have been known for some time.
The two worst bus accidents in the country were headon collisions, two months apart, in 1989, killing 35 and 21 respectively, both in the state of New South Wales.