Harden bus crash hero Henry Ah Kee speaks of ‘miracle’ survivial
A father of five children who were all on board a bus that crashed in southern NSW this morning has told of how he smashed a window to pull the victims out
Canberra Star
Don't miss out on the headlines from Canberra Star. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A father of five children who were all on board a bus that crashed in southern NSW this morning watched on in horror as the accident unfolded and said it was “a miracle” everyone survived.
Henry Ah Kee was travelling in front of the bus which was carrying a church group to Sydney when it went off the road at Burley Griffin Way at Harden, northwest of Canberra, just before 8.30am.
The bus was carrying 28 adults and children, ranging from three to 69 years of age, including Ah Kee’s wife and children.
A 65-year-old woman, Salome Teao, was the most seriously injured in the crash.
She was airlifted to Canberra Hospital with serious head injuries along with a seven-year-old boy who suffered a broken leg.
Relatives said she is expected to survive.
The other 26 passengers, including the 57-year-old male driver, are either in a stable condition or have been discharged from hospital.
Mr Ah Kee said he saw the front tyre of the bus blow as it drove around a bend.
“Then it hit the side rail and went off the road,” he said.
“The front tyre, the left side blew up and the bus smashed on the side of the rail.
“And it kept stuck on the rail until it finished and then it went down the hill.
“I thought the bus would have flipped over by then. It took out the tree, it was really scary because we saw everything happening but we had to turn around and hop out.”
Mr Ah Kee said it was a “miracle” most of the passengers, many of them children, survived with minor scrapes and bruising.
“I was just praying God will watch over the children and everyone on the bus, it was really scary stuff but as we came to see what was happening we saw it could have been much worse,” he said.
“We had to break the window and bring everyone out, those that were not critical.
“We had to break the window because the front door was all smashed up and everyone was happy that the Lord helped them out.”
The group on the bus were from the Griffith Seventh-Day Adventist church and many were relatives.
Nato Manuela had his three grand-children and his wife on the bus and several other relatives and he he fought back tears as he was interviewed.
“I’m very emotional, it’s a miracle they’re alive,” he said.
“If you’ve seen the scene of the crash, it’s amazing they’re alive. I got so many messages with family members calling from New Zealand.
“To have seen what’s happened to the bus I cant understand how anyone could have survived that accident. The bus driver was from our church group and he was very experienced.”
“My wife is shaken up but tomorrow she will be healed. It was definitely shocking especially seeing your loved ones going through that and you don’t know what’s happening.”
A teenage girl who was on board the bus said she had been trying to sleep when she heard a crash-like sound.
“Then I thought it would go back to normal like driving but it didn’t,” she said.
“We just stopped at the bottom of the road and I quickly got up to check my sister was OK, I looked around and everyone was screaming and I saw my nanna wasn’t OK.
“I thought it was a dream first of all and I needed to get out because I couldn’t breathe in there.
“People cracked the window open and that’s how the little kids got out and us.
After getting out of the bus the girl described being “speechless”
“I couldn’t do anything. Some of the kids and me, we just prayed,” she said.
The bus driver was assisting police this morning and a crime scene set up.
Police officers from the Major Crash Task Force are investigating.