Palm Beach crash leaves 15-year-old male driver critical

A teenager is fighting for life after a bus crash involving a stolen car on the Gold Coast that has left five people in hospital.

Five people are in hospital after the crash. File picture.

A teenager is fighting for life after a bus crash involving a stolen car on the Gold Coast which left five people in hospital.

Police said the incident happened about 11.45 on Friday night when a stolen Kia with four teens inside crashed into the back of another car on the Gold Coast Highway at Palm Beach.

The second car then “catapulted” into the back of a Surfside bus, Gold Coast police superintendent Peter Miles said.

He said the Kia was allegedly being driven “at speed” by a 15-year-old boy who was “well-known” to police.

He said the two boys and two girls in the Kia were taken to Gold Coast University Hospital by ambulance, with the front seat male passenger suffering critical head injuries.

The driver of the other car was also taken to hospital but there were “thankfully” no injuries to anyone on the bus, Supt Miles said.

“It tied up a lot of our resources and thankfully no-one was killed,” he said.

“It could have been so much worse … we could have been looking at five deaths.”

Supt Miles said the 15-year-old driver was allegedly travelling “way too fast” and a blood sample had been taken from him for testing.

He said the incident was frustrating for police and parents.

“A lot of these parents are trying their best and they’ve got these kids that continually reoffend,” he said.