Bus carrying American tourists involved in accident on Dullstroom road
An American tourist who was one of the passengers in a tour bus that crashed is a first responder and firefighter and assisted local emergency personnel to get the other passengers out of the bus.
A tour bus carrying 11 passengers veered off the road and crashed into a rock embarkment on the Dullstroom/R540 road just before 13:00 yesterday.
The bus was transporting 10 American tourists, accompanied by a driver and a tour guide.
According to information received, the tourists were travelling from Johannesburg to the Kruger National Park and wanted to travel on the Panorama Route, before tragedy struck.
Two of the 10 tourists sustained serious injuries. The two were taken to Belfast Hospital for treatment.
They were stabilised and are not in a critical condition.
The other eight tourists were also transported to the same hospital for observation.
The driver and tour guide remained at the scene.
Steelburger/Lydenburg News spoke to one of the tourists involved in the accident.
According to Barry Cuples from California, they were heading to their next guest house when the accident occurred.
Cuples is a qualified first responder and firefighter for the California District of America.
He assisted the emergency personnel to get the other passengers out of the wreck.
“It’s a miracle that there were no other serious injuries. Most of the passengers were wearing their safety belts, including myself and my wife,” he said on the scene.
Apart from some scrapes and cuts, Cuples, his wife, and the other six tourists were not injured.
The newspaper also managed to speak to the distraught bus driver.
He explained that the wet road conditions resulted in the bus losing grip around a bend and sliding into the oncoming lane, before hitting the embarkment.
No other vehicles were involved in the accident.
Emergency personnel from Netcare 911, the Ehlanzeni Fire and Rescue Department, and police officers from Dullstroom and Lydenburg arrived at the scene within minutes.
The passengers were booked into various guest houses in Belfast until another bus could collect them.
It is not certain if the tour will continue.
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Read original story on www.citizen.co.za
