One adult dead, two students and one adult critical after school bus collides with car on Warrego Highway

A senior member of the Queensland Ambulance Service says the school bus crash that killed a 30-year-old Chinchilla woman, left another fighting for life and injured 17 children “could have been a lot worse”. LISTEN TO THE AUDIO

The school bus crash that killed a 30-year-old Chinchilla woman and injured 16 children could have been a lot worse, according to a senior member of the Queensland Ambulance Service.

The crash on the Warrego Hwy east of Wallumbilla killed the Chinchilla woman, left another Western Downs woman, 37, fighting for life and one child with serious leg injuries and multiple fractures.

The other 16 children suffered minor lacerations, abrasions and fractures.

QAS executive manager Loretta Johnson who co-ordinated emergency services on scene at the crash said there was significant damage to the passenger side of the bus and the vehicle that collided with it.

“It could have been a lot worse,” she said.

“Looking at what has occurred I believe that the scene was managed very well by bystanders and the SES crew.

“We were able to transport those patients in a timely manner back to Roma hospital.”

Another bus was organised at the scene to transport all 16 children to Roma Hospital to be treated for minor injuries.

“They were of course shaken up but they co-operated well,” Ms Johnson said.

The female driver of the car has been flown to the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane with critical injuries. Picture: RACQ LifeFlight

The 37-year-old woman who was critically injured was driven by an ambulance Roma Airport before she was flown to the Princess Alexandra Hospital.

A RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Critical Care Doctor and QAS Flight Paramedic treated the woman for multiple traumatic injuries before she was flown.

The 58-year-old bus driver suffered minor injuries.

All 20 occupants of the bus and car were transported to Roma Hospital.

Nineteen patients have taken to Roma Hospital, including one serious child, two critical adults, and 16 stable children following the Wallumbilla bus crash. Picture: QAS/Twitter

Member for Warrego Ann Leahy said her thoughts were with all involved in the incident.

“It is always very concerning for all of those involved and for their families because Wallumbilla is a very tight-knit community,” she said.

“It’s really tragic, we’re always very careful on that Warrego Highway but unfortunately these things happen and we hope that we can get to the bottom of what the cause of the accident was.

“Many of the people who do the road crash rescue are local people so they would have been going to rescue with people in their own community so that makes it very traumatic for the community.”

The Education Department confirmed in a statement that the bus was carrying students from Wallumbilla State School.

Both adults were significantly trapped before being cut out of the wreck by SES and firefighters after the first of QFES four crews arrived at 3.40pm.

A Queensland police spokesman said both lanes of the Warrego Hwy were shut as emergency services responded to the serious incident.