Following the tragic bus crash in Australia that claimed the lives of 10 wedding guests, a former crash scene investigator has explained how they lost their lives.
Maddy Edsell and Mitchell Gaffney tied the knot on Sunday (June 11) at Wandin Estate in the Hunter Valley in Australia, but their celebrations soon turned into a tragedy.
A bus that was taking wedding guests from the reception to their accommodation in Singleton crashed, resulting in the deaths of 10 people, and hospitalizing 25 more, as reported by 7News.
Following the crash, retired Victoria Police Officer Peter Bellion has shed light on why so many passengers lost their lives in the incident.
Speaking to News.com.au, Bellion said: "It’s a typical heavy vehicle rollover where a heavy vehicle has gone into some sort of turn too fast, it’ll tip over the outside lip.
"Obviously the passenger side is coming into contact with the road surface and also the guard railing, they’re sources of contact for anybody inside the vehicle. But then you also have the fact that anybody that’s on the driver side unrestrained, they could also fall to the passenger side and end up with some pretty bad if not fatal injuries."
Adding that the accident demonstrates how fragile human beings are, Bellion said that anybody standing in the aisle or not wearing a seatbelt would have suffered "pretty bad if not fatal injuries".
"Effectively if you look at the vulnerability of human impact tolerance, a sudden stop at 30km/h for a human being unrestrained will result in about 15 percent fatality rate," Bellion went on.
He continued: "For a sudden stop of about 40km/h that can result in about a 50 percent fatality rate, and by the time that gets up to 50km/h, 85 percent would be a fatal outcome."
Bellion noted that when a vehicle rolls over, the heads of the passengers are particularly susceptible to injury which can result in catastrophic damage.
Investigations are ongoing so it's unknown whether the passengers were wearing seatbelts, but Bellion claims that it is "unlikely" due to the high number of fatalities.
The driver, 58-year-old Brett Andrew Button, has since been charged with 10 counts of dangerous driving occasioning death, including driving manner dangerous, and negligent driving (occasioning death), per 7News.
The newlyweds, who weren't on the bus, are Australian rules football stars. Gaffney played for the Singleton Roosters while Edsell was an ever-present player for the Hunter Valley women's team before moving to Melbourne to link up with the Roosterettes.
The first victims of the tragedy have been named as Nadene McBride, her daughter Kyah McBride and Kyah's boyfriend Kane Symons.
Also named by local news outlets were Andrew and Lynan Scott, Angus Craig, Rebecca 'Bec' Mullen, Tori Cowburn, and Zachary Bray. Andrew and Lynan Scott leave behind two children under the age of five.
Our thoughts remain with all of those affected by this tragedy.
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