By Robyn Grace, Bridie Smith and Alex Crowe
Students are devastated after a much-loved bus driver died following a crash on the way home from school on Wednesday afternoon, a Victorian school principal says.
The Seymour Coaches driver was killed when his bus ran off the road just after 3.30pm, crashing into a tree near Kilmore, north of Melbourne.
About 30 students from Assumption College and St Patrick’s Primary School in Kilmore were helped at the chaotic scene by passersby.
Assumption College principal Paul Finneran said the man was the students’ regular driver.
“The kids loved him,” he said. “We remembered him in our prayers this morning. This is a tragedy for his family.”
One child was taken to Kilmore Hospital in a stable condition, Ambulance Victoria said. Police described their injuries as serious, but not life-threatening. The 65-year-old driver from Wallan died at the scene.
The scene of the crash on Wandong Road.Credit: Nine News
Finneran first became aware of the crash when a student on board the bus called just before 4pm. He rushed to the scene, where staff members and members of the public were already working to free the children.
“I was lucky that the first communication was that the students were all OK,” he said. “I was somewhat reassured, although not totally.”
Finneran quickly informed parents which bus had been involved “to quell the rumour mill” and continued communications into the evening as students gathered for counselling at the school.
“The best way to support families is to communicate with them,” he said.
Finneran said the students were “pretty shaken, as to be expected”.
Seymour Coaches confirmed its bus was involved in the accident but declined to make a comment.
Kilmore carpenter Colby, who asked that his surname not be published, said he and other passersby used a ladder to help pull frightened children out of the crashed bus.
He was driving home about 3.40pm on Wednesday when he saw the bus, which looked like it had veered across the road and come to a stop near a paddock.
Thirty students were pulled from an overturned school bus. The driver died at the sceneCredit: Nine News
He said he pulled his ute over and went to help.
The door of the bus was obstructed by a tree, so he and other passersby broke the driver’s right side window.
They then helped the students out with a ladder another driver had retrieved from a ute.
“The kids were uninjured, maybe a few bruises and scratches,” Colby said.
“Some of the younger ones were shaken up and in shock. We tried to calm them down a bit and by the time we got them all off [the bus] the SES, police and ambulance had arrived.”
Police are investigating the cause of the crash.
Assumption College staff were expected to attend another briefing on Thursday morning and Finneran said more counselling would be available for students over the coming days.
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