Children freed after new school bus scare in Gippsland

Fifteen primary children have walked away unscathed after their school bus swerved and ended up in a ditch in Fish Creek, trapping them inside.

Fifteen children had to be freed from their school bus after it went down an embankment. Picture: Channel 9

Fifteen children had to be rescued after their school bus went down an embankment on the way to school, trapping them inside.

The children, from Fish Creek and District Primary School, were not injured in the crash and are “happy to be back in class”, according to teacher Kerri Smith.

The bus, coming from Yanakie, was taking the children to school when the incident occurred on Meeniyan-Promontory Rd just after 8am.

Emergence services at the scene of the accident. Picture: Victoria Police

No one was hurt in the incident. Picture: Victoria Police

“The driver turned a bend and there was a semi-trailer coming towards her in the middle of the road and she swerved to avoid it and ended up in a ditch,” Ms Smith told the Herald Sun.

She said she wasn’t sure if they were wearing seatbelts but assumed so, as all the buses used by the school had seatbelts.

“No one was hurt and they are all here at school,” she said.

The accident comes a week after a terrifying bus crash involving Exford Primary school students which has left a number of children with life-changing injuries including amputations. The driver of a truck that hit the Exford Primary bus has been charged with four counts of dangerous driving causing serious injury and is now on bail.

The crash has prompted a review of bus seatbelt laws in Victoria.