MELBOURNE, Australia — MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) —
Seven kids stay hospitalized with severe accidents after a truck struck a college bus carrying as many as 45 college students on the outskirts of Melbourne in southeastern Australia, authorities mentioned Wednesday.
The truck hit the rear of the varsity bus and prompted it to overturn Tuesday afternoon at an intersection in Eynesbury, a semi-rural neighborhood west of Melbourne, police mentioned. Head accidents, arm amputations and suspected spinal accidents have been reported by a hospital official.
A complete of 21 kids the place initially taken by ambulance from the scene for medical care and 7 of them remained hospitalized Wednesday.
One of many kids was in intensive care, Royal Youngsters’s Hospital Melbourne chief government Bernadette McDonald mentioned, noting the kids vary in age from 5 to 11 years outdated.
“The youngsters have suffered a number of and traumatic accidents together with partial and full amputations of arms, a number of crushing accidents, extreme lacerations of the top and physique, head accidents, glass shard accidents and three sufferers are … being monitored rigorously by way of spinal accidents,” McDonald instructed reporters.
She additionally mentioned the hospital was aiding some extraordinarily traumatized households, including, “we’re working extraordinarily laborious to offer that trauma help and care that they’ll needn’t simply now however within the coming weeks and months as nicely.”
McDonald mentioned one youngster misplaced a complete arm however she didn’t elaborate on how most of the injured had partial amputations.
About six kids have been quickly trapped within the wrecked bus, the Nation Hearth Authority mentioned. Emergency crews entered the bus by way of a skylight in its roof, and the smashed-out windshield was used as the principle emergency exit.
Paramedics assessed dazed victims who didn’t seem to want hospitalization within the grass surrounding the crash website.
The bus driver was taken to a hospital with minor accidents however was not admitted.
Police crash investigators have been questioning the motive force of the truck, which had harm to its entrance. The truck driver was not injured.
On the time of the crash, the kids have been returning to a close-by major college after competing in an athletics occasion.