SYDNEY, July 30 (Xinhua) -- Six people have been hospitalized, including two with serious injuries, after a bus crashed on the way to a wedding north of Sydney on Wednesday morning.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported on Wednesday that emergency services were called to reports that a minibus had veered off a dirt road and rolled down an embankment near the town of Cessnock, some 115 kilometers north of Sydney in the Hunter Valley region of the state of New South Wales (NSW), around 10:30 a.m. local time.
Two passengers, a male aged in his 50s with limb injuries and a man in his 60s with head injuries, were airlifted to the hospital in a critical condition.
Four others, including the driver, were taken to the hospital by ambulance in stable condition.
The minibus was carrying the groom and his groomsmen to the wedding in Mount View.
Hunter Valley Police District Commander Steve Laksa told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon that it was "very fortunate" that the serious injuries to the two men were not fatal.
Laksa said the weather conditions may have been a factor for the accident.
NSW Ambulance Acting Superintendent Jake Broughton-Rouse said that the minibus had rolled seven times about 150 meters down the embankment and that it took crews 45 minutes to cut the man in his 60s out of the wreckage.
NSW Police's crash investigation unit has commenced an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident. ■
