One person is dead and 13 injured after a bus carrying foreign tourists crashed in New Zealand

On November 27, 2024By Pranco

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — One person is dead and 13 others were rushed to hospitals in New Zealand after a…

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — One person is dead and 13 others were rushed to hospitals in New Zealand after a bus carrying international tourists collided with two other vehicles on a rural highway Wednesday.

The ambulance service said two people were in a critical condition and four others were seriously injured, while the rest suffered moderate injuries, after the crash in the Waikato region of the North Island.

The cause of the three-vehicle collision is unknown. It happened on a straight stretch of highway in good weather conditions.

New Zealand police confirmed that a small bus carrying 11 international tourists and their driver was involved in the accident. There were three people in the other two vehicles.

Officials would not say which countries the tourists came from or what vehicle the deceased person was traveling in. St John Ambulance said the injured were taken to hospitals on the other side of the North Island.

The road is closed at the scene of the accident, on a rural highway 50 km (31 miles) from the city of Hamilton.

Tourist buses have been involved in fatal accidents crashes on New Zealand’s national highwayswhich are often narrow and tortuous, previously. In one of the worst episodes, a bus turned around in rainy conditions north of Rotorua on the North Island in 2019, killing five tourists from China.

In 2008, eight tourists and their driver were killed when their bus hit a logging truck.