‘I need all resources’: Audio reveals first responder’s plea for help

It was just after 11.30pm on Wine Country Drive at Greta in the Hunter Valley when the extent of the wedding bus crash tragedy became clear.

A NSW Ambulance inspector who had arrived at the chaotic scene immediately knew at least seven passengers on the bus that was travelling from a wedding at the Wandin Estate Winery were dead.

First responders at the scene of the bus crash in the early hours of Monday morning.Credit: Nine

“Major incident declared. We have a bus rollover. Multiple patients,” he said.

“The exact location is on Wine Country Drive overpass. We have police, fire brigade on scene.

“At this stage, we have identified seven, I repeat, seven, code fours.”

A code four means that the patient is dead, according to NSW Ambulance radio codes.

“We have one red label patient whose injuries are severe and unfortunately we are expecting that he is also going to code four.

“We have multiple red and orange label patients at this stage.”

Red label patients are deemed to be in a critical condition and orange label patients are in a serious condition.

“I need all resources allocated to continue, I am still trying to work out exactly how many patients I have here,” the inspector said.

Helicopters took some patients to hospitals in Newcastle and others were taken to Sydney.

The bodies of those who died remain at the scene as forensic investigators try to piece together what happened.

The 58-year-old driver of the bus was arrested and is expected to be charged with multiple offences.

NSW Ambulance chief superintendent Paula Sinclair, who spoke to the media hours after the crash, said it would be a difficult day for those first responders.

“Whilst they’re paramedics every day of their lives, something like this is not a job that they go to every day,” she said. “So I’m incredibly proud of the paramedics that attended; they did a fantastic job under the circumstances.”

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