Emergency crews take more than an hour to free driver and passenger as Outer Harbor train line disrupted during morning rush hour.
A bus driver has been seriously injured and both he and a passenger were extensively trapped after an Adelaide Metro bus crashed head-on into a concrete rail bridge support in Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Bus Crashes Into Railway Bridge, Two Injured in Adelaide:
The collision occurred shortly before 9am on Tuesday on Commercial Road, near Baynes Place, during morning peak traffic. Witnesses reported a loud bang as the bus struck the pylon supporting the bridge that carries the Outer Harbor train line.
Emergency services, including South Australia Police, the Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS) and SA Ambulance Service, rushed to the scene. The driver, a 37-year-old man from Kensington Park, was compressed by the crumpled front of the bus, particularly around his lower limbs. A 28-year-old female passenger was also trapped by her lower limbs.
Clinton Daniels of the SA Ambulance Service Special Operations Team said the driver required “extensive treatment” at the scene, including blood transfusions, before being taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital in a serious but stable condition. The passenger was also hospitalised with non-life-threatening injuries.
“Both have significant injuries from the impact of the bus and the crumpling of the bus onto the patient themselves,” Daniels said. “The driver was extensively trapped through being compressed through his lower limbs.”
Firefighters Free Trapped Bus Driver:
MFS Commander Simon Kirkmoe said 19 firefighters, including a specialist technical rescue team, worked for more than an hour to free the pair. The passenger was removed in about 30 minutes. Freeing the driver proved more complex.
“We had to use some techniques to drag the bus backwards off the pylon to then use some hand tools and hydraulic tools to actually remove the steering column in the front of the bus off of those lower limbs to enable them to be removed,” Kirkmoe said. He described the crash as one of the more significant bus accidents the service had attended in recent times, noting substantial damage to the front of the vehicle. Three other passengers managed to leave the bus unassisted and were treated at the scene. No deaths were reported.
The impact forced the temporary suspension of train services between Alberton and Outer Harbor. Substitute buses were arranged while a safety inspection of the bridge was carried out. Services later resumed. Road closures and traffic restrictions remained in place for several hours as police investigated the cause of the crash. Infrastructure and Transport Minister Joe Szakacs said emergency services were at the scene and expressed his thoughts for the driver and passengers involved. Police said the investigation was continuing. The cause of the collision has not yet been determined.