School Bus crashes into tree in Auckland. Photo: RNZ/Calvin Samuel
Five people have been hurt after a public bus crashed into a tree in Auckland.
Emergency services were called to the crash on Elliot Street in the suburb of Pahurehure, about 8:45am on Wednesday.
St John ambulance said three people had been taken to hospital via ambulance, and two of those were in a serious condition.
They said two others were in a moderate condition and had chosen to go to local medical centres themselves.
A scene examination is underway and police have asked the public to avoid the area.
The bus - operated by Ritchies - has been significantly damaged, with its front windows and driver's side windows nearly entirely smashed.
St John ambulance says three people have been taken to hospital via ambulance. Photo: RNZ/Calvin Samuel
A spokesperson for Ritchies confirmed that the bus was a public service bus - 377 - which ran between Papakura and Rosehill.
He said the driver had been tested for drugs and alcohol by police, and had been released after those tests produced negative results.
Police said "testing was conducted at the scene as part of the investigation".
When asked for the results of the tests, police said they would "not be commenting further while an investigation is underway".
The Ritchies spokesperson said the company would be running its own drug and alcohol test on the driver later.
Auckland Transport has been approached for comment. Photo: RNZ/Calvin Samuel
A Rosehill College spokesperson confirmed that students on board the bus were from both Rosehill College and Rosehill intermediate.
She confirmed the bus was an Auckland Transport bus and was not contracted by the school.
She said the school's leadership team were on the scene on Wednesday morning, and would continue to support students and whānau affected by the crash.
Auckland Transport said it had been working closely with Ritchies following the crash.
AT director public transport Stacey van der Putten said they had contacting passengers who were on the bus and offering support.
"We know that incidents like this can be harrowing even for people who don't receive physical injuries," she said.
"We are also working with Ritchies to make sure that the bus driver involved has robust support at this time. They are shocked by what happened and we understand that there may have been some threats made against the driver following the collision, which is disappointing and totally unacceptable."
Van der Putten said AT wanted to assure customers that bus crashes such as this were incredibly rare and generally they had a much lower rate of collisions than private vehicles.
"However, any incident like this is one too many and we are committed to identifying areas for improvement through the investigations underway and working on implementing these with our partners like Ritchies."
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