Fiji police yet to determine cause of fatal bus crash

Updated August 29, 2008 16:24:02

In Fiji, police are still investigating the cause of a bus crash which killed ten people. Initial reports say the driver of the Raiwaqa Bus and the survivors were able to jump from the bus before it toppled over and burst into flames. Two passengers are in hospital with severe burns, two others are in a stable condition. The bus which was carrying 36 passengers at the time of the accident were attended to by Sub-Divisional Medical Officer Sigatoka Dr Abdul Shah.

Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
Speakers: Sub-Divisional Medical Officer at Sigatoka, Dr Abdul Shah, Fiji Police spokesman, Atunaisa Sokomuri

SHAH: Yesterday at about 10 pm there had been a bus which caught fire on road to Nadi from Suva full of passengers and the call came to the hospital about 11 and we were there as soon after that. The bus that was very badly caught on fire and all the burn patients were transferred to the hospital with the ambulance and the vehicles. Four of them were critically burnt and they have been transferred to Sigatoka Hospital today and 10 of those passengers unfortunately died on the bus, were unable to get out of the bus, and their bodies are still kept at the hospital naturally for a post mortem examination tomorrow.

COUTTS: Doctor Shah who is one of the first people at the scene of the crash does not think road conditions were a contributing factor.

SHAH: The road conditions are good, some a flat surface as well. There is no road conditions that I would think might contribute to the accident.

COUTTS: Police are still investigating the cause of the bus crash and notifying relatives of the deceased.

Initial reports suggest the bus may have had mechanical difficulties.

Fiji's police force operations officer, Atunaisa Sokomuri.

SOKOMURI: At the moment, we cannot really say anything on what actually happened on the bus. When we went to the scene, it was on the completely burnt, but from the initial interrogation of the driver, he was saying that the bus tumbled over and burst out into flame, but that's yet to be confirmed.

COUTTS: Atunaisa Sokomuri why would a bus tumble over? Was it unable to stop or slow down?

SOKOMURI: Well, the accident happened just near midnight and there are a lot of conflicting stories at present with a lot of passengers are giving in the statements, also the driver interrogated by police, but we will wait and we will see how all the statements add up before we really confirm what really happened on the fateful night.

COUTTS: Doctor Shah says the bodies were badly burned and the bus guttered by fire?

SOKOMURI: The bus has been completely burnt. It was lying down just beside the road, because as soon as it caught fire, the driver lost control and it veered off the road. The bus is just totally destroyed by fire.

COUTTS: Reports today claim the bus driver and a number of the survivors of the accident were able to jump from the bus before it crashed?

SOKOMURI: The bus was travelling at night and what normally happens when people travel at night, they fell off to sleep, they doze off and this is what we believed happened. Those who had been up, awake during the brief time managed to jump out of the bus with the driver, but the unfortunate ones that were sleeping were caught in the accident.

COUTTS: It's not the first time that the Raiwaqa Busline along with a number of other bus companies that have been involved in serious incidents.

Atunaisa Sokomuri.

SOKOMURI: Not only to travel on a bus, there are a lot of buses around that are involved in this kind of accident, but not as serious as this one.

COUTTS: Is maintenance and safety an issue with the buslines then?

SOKOMURI: On that issue, all I can see we will wait, after we deal with the issue at the moment before we talk on those issues with all the stakeholders.