Six people remain in hospitals in Melbourne and Hobart receiving treatment following a serious bus crash involving multiple injuries on King Island yesterday.
The incident happened about 4.20pm Friday (30 October) when the Toyota HiAce passenger van, with 10 elderly people on board, was involved in a single vehicle crash on South Road, Pearshape, in the rural south of the island.
The group were all visitors to King Island from the mainland, aged in their mid-70s to 80s.
Following the response by emergency services at the scene and at King Island hospital, three patients were flown by Air Ambulance Victoria fixed-wing aircraft to Melbourne on Friday night.
One patient was admitted to The Alfred Hospital and remains in a stable condition. Two patients were admitted to Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Seven patients were initially admitted to King Island District Hospital and Health Centre at Currie.
Three of those patients have since been transferred to the Royal Hobart Hospital with minor and moderate injuries. All three patients at the RHH remain in a stable condition.
Four patients remained on King Island for treatment at the King Island District Hospital and Health Centre.
Three were medically cleared and discharged to their accommodation late last night. One patient was kept for observation overnight and has now been discharged.
Tasmania Police Inspector Steve Jones praised the crash response by emergency services, including volunteer units.
"This was quite a challenging incident involving a significant crash, multiple people with serious injuries, and in a remote location," he said.
"The crash scene was quite complex, so the quick response and the level of care and assistance that the patients received from police and those in the volunteer emergency services, until such time as the specialist medical teams arrived, was outstanding.
"A number of resources were deployed which included volunteer emergency services in Ambulance Tasmania, the State Emergency Service and Tasmania Fire Service. A further call was put out to the mine at Grassy to provide their ambulance, which they did.
"Given the number of casualties, their age and the potential severity of injuries, a fixed-wing ambulance aircraft was deployed from Victoria and both Westpac Rescue Helicopters with medical staff onboard were tasked from Hobart.
"Our thoughts are with those injured persons, their families and loved ones and the wider King Island community."
Ambulance Tasmania Chief Executive Nicole Ashworth also praised the emergency response.
"I want to thank our ambulance volunteers, paramedics, medical retrieval teams and all the emergency services who responded" she said.
"This includes our colleagues at Ambulance Victoria, for their exceptional response to yesterday's incident on King Island.
"This was a complex and challenging incident, and their skill, care and teamwork made a real difference. It was an outstanding example of multiple agencies working together to get patients the care they needed."
Tasmania Police investigations into the crash are continuing.
Initial investigations suggest the vehicle failed to take a bend on the road, losing traction in loose gravel. The van went down an embankment, rolled over and landed back on its wheels.
Passengers and the driver sustained various injuries including suspected fractures, facial trauma, back pain and complaints of internal pain.
Some of the patients had serious injuries, although none were believed to be life-threatening.
Anyone with information about the crash, dashcam footage, or who may have seen the white van travelling on South Road, Pearshape, around the time of the incident, is asked to contact Police on 131 444.
