Victims of horror Hunter Valley bus crash identified
The families of 10 wedding guests involved in the horror bus crash in the Hunter Valley have been told formal identification could take days, if not weeks.
NSW
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The gut-wrenching call came minutes before midnight: 35 guests of their wedding were in a bus crash.
Amid the panic and confusion, newlyweds Mitchell and Madeleine Gaffney wanted to go to the crash scene, but were told to stay away.
Instead, the anxious couple waited inside their cottage on the grounds of Wandin Estate at Lovedale, in the picturesque Hunter Valley, for more news.
It was unclear how serious the crash was. Guests on the bus weren’t answering their phones, no one could get an idea of the enormity of what had occurred on a roundabout at Greta, north of Newcastle.
But about 1am, the severity of the crash became heartbreakingly clear: A police officer arrived at the estate where much of the bridal party was staying, and asked for a list of people who had boarded the bus bound for Singleton.
There were 35 guests on the bus, as well as the 58-year-old male driver.
As the bride and groom scrambled to help police with the names of the people likely to be on that bus, emergency crews 12km away were frantically working to rescue anyone they could.
First responders at the scene, including an off-duty paramedic and several passers-by, used blocks of wood to temporarily lift the overturned bus and free multiple injured people.
Twenty-five people were pulled alive from the bus. Their injuries varied from critical head and neck trauma to broken bones.
Tragically, 10 people could not be accounted for. The Daily Telegraph can reveal the names of those people whose families have been notified by NSW Police and told that formal identification could take days, if not weeks.
Husband and wife Andrew and Lynan Scott, from Singleton. Mother and daughter Nadene and Kyah McBride also from Singleton.
Mrs McBride’s husband Graham is among the injured passengers and remains in hospital with neck injuries. Kyah’s boyfriend Kane Symons also remains unaccounted for.
Zachary Bray from Byron Bay, Angus Craig from Queensland, Darcy Bulman from Melbourne, as well as Tori Cowburn and Rebecca Mullen from Singleton.
The driver, Brett Andrew Button, managed to free himself through the bus’s shattered windscreen. He was taken to hospital for mandatory blood and alcohol testing, before being charged late on Monday.
The distraught bride and groom stayed at their accommodation while the grim salvage operation was carried out.
At their home in Singleton on Monday, members of their bridal party were seen arriving with suitcases, a guitar and presents. They were expected to arrive home late Monday night.
The happy couple had spent 12 months planning their special day, even choosing the long weekend date so that friends and family from interstate could be there.
The pair, who have been together for more than eight years, both grew up in Warrandyte, in Melbourne’s north east, where he played for the local cricket club and she played netball.
When Mitch’s university studies were over, the couple moved to Singleton in 2019 to start a new life together.
Mitch had finished his engineering degree and got a job as a graduate process engineer at Yancoal’s Hunter Valley operation, and Maddy followed too.
Among the 100-odd guests were up to a dozen members of the Singleton Roosters AFL Club which Mitch and Maddy are members of, and he held the role of treasurer until last year.
The bride and groom’s families travelled from Melbourne while other guests made their way from Queensland, Byron Bay and Sydney.
Soon after the reception began inside the venue’s picturesque homestead, wedding celebrant Ashley Ogle posted a picture of the newlyweds to her social media account saying simply “Perfect”.
A video of Maddy arriving showed her beaming as she rode alongside her father Jon in a restored vintage VW Beetle convertible he had worked on for the special day.
“Maddy also rocked up to the ceremony in a restored 1952 beetle convertible. It was so cool,” Ms Ogle posted on Instagram.
“So her dad, like they’ve been holding onto it for 42 years, and he got it ready for Madeleine … It was so cool to see her rock up in this bug.”
In another photo, Ms Ogle wrote “my heart” as she pictured a smiling Mr Gaffney as his bride arrived.
Video from inside the reception with draping fairy lights overhead, guests could be seen sitting at long tables surrounded by roses.
The beaming groom smiled as the camera panned onto him, before it showed guests dancing on the veranda.
About 11pm, the event ended and guests began leaving in cars as well as buses, one headed to Newcastle, another to Singleton.
Originally published as Victims of horror Hunter Valley bus crash identified
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