Police are investigating if a long-distance bus packed with passengers veered into oncoming traffic, causing a crash which killed three women and left two men fighting for life.
Thirty-three people were on board the Greyhound coach when it collided with a four-wheel-drive towing a caravan at 11am yesterday.
The crash happened near the Wilson Creek Rest Area on the Bruce Highway at Gumlu, south of Townsville.
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The bus was travelling north from Brisbane and the other vehicle was heading south.
In the impact, the caravan smashed into the front of the bus, which ended up coming to rest across nearby train tracks.
A 56-year-old Townsville woman has been identified as one of three killed.
She was travelling back from Brisbane with her daughter.
They were sitting next to each other, with the younger woman escaping serious injury.
A woman in her 20s and another in her 30s also died.
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Police are also probing if fatigue played a factor, as investigations continue.
A photo taken by a passenger seated three rows from the front shows the devastation outside the vehicle.
“I just woke up and saw us hitting the caravan,” the passenger, who didn’t want to be named, said.
”The bus driver and a couple of civilians came in and they opened the door and helped get everyone out.”
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The badly injured passengers were rushed to Ayr and Townsville hospitals, with one airlifted by helicopter.
The bus driver and two elderly people in the four-wheel-drive are understood to have escaped without serious injury.
The driver has given blood and urine samples and is in hospital being treated for mental health issues.
The two men who are in a critical condition at Townsville Hospital are aged 24 and 23.
Another two men, aged 27 and 51, are now listed as stable.
Jason Yates from Townsville Hospital said staff prepared for a “mass casualty event” after 27 of the passengers were treated at the roadside.
Doctors and nurses also rushed to the highway to help.
“We safely discharged three patients yesterday, which was great, and then we were able to treat seven patients from the accident in Ayr,” Yates said.
Greyhound Australia boss Dan Smith said the company is “heartbroken” about the accident.
Queensland Premier Steven Miles said he “expressed his sympathies” to those affected but cautioned it was “a bit premature to be speculating on the cause”.
The Greyhound bus had departed Brisbane the day before.
The route, GX402, is a daily bus service from the city to Townsville.
As it travelled north, it had made scheduled break stops at Traveston, South Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Mackay, and Longford.
It’s the third major incident on the Bruce Highway in a fortnight.
“The job of investing in the Bruce (Highway) will never be done,” Miles said.
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said: “It’s not up to standard and I don’t think there’s a Queenslander who believes it is.”
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