A survivor of the devastating wedding bus crash that claimed that lives of 10 people has issued an urgent warning to the public.
On Sunday (June 11), Maddy Edsell and Mitchell Gaffney tied the knot at Wandin Estate in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Australia.
As the couple's nuptials ended late at night, a coach was scheduled to take 36 of their guests from the reception to their accommodation in Singleton at approximately 11:30 PM.
The journey was expected to last half an hour but about 17 minutes in, the 2009 Volvo B7R rolled over on Wine Country Drive at Greta which resulted in the deaths of 10 people, and hospitalizing 25 more.
The newlyweds - who weren't on the bus - are Australian rules football stars. They both played for the Singleton Roosters team.
In the wake of the tragedy, the first victims of the horrific crash have now been named. Nadene McBride, her daughter Kyah McBride and Kyah's boyfriend Kane Symons have been identified.
Also named by local news outlets were Andrew and Lynan Scott - who sadly leave behind two children under the age of five - as well as Angus Craig, Rebecca 'Bec' Mullen, Tori Cowburn, and Zachary Bray.
Darcy Bulman from Victoria has also been reported as a victim of the crash. Eight players from Victoria's Warrandyte Cricket Club and five of their partners are noted to be among those that are injured, including Brandon Stafford, a third-grade cricket XI captain who had served as a groomsman, whose injuries include broken collar bones and a broken jaw.
The area was blanketed in heavy fog at the time of the collision and the roundabout on Wine Country Drive near the Hunter Expressway off-ramp in Greta, 12km away from the estate, was under construction, as reported by Daily Mail.
On June 12, just a day after the incident, police revealed that the 58-year-old bus driver named Brett Andrew Button had been charged with 10 counts of dangerous driving occasioning death, including driving manner dangerous, and negligent driving (occasioning death).
However, Button was later granted jail and pictured leaving Cessnock police station. Before that, the driver reportedly spent the night before being granted bail crying in a police cell while repeating two heartbreaking words: "I’m sorry."
In addition to this, a police source also told The Daily Telegraph that the father of four - who had no criminal history prior to the charges - was seen "curled up" in his holding cell at Cessnock police station.
According to reports, the deceased and injured victims of the tragic crash are being exploited through fraudulent GoFundMe fundraising pages.
A survivor named Alex Tigani - who was the MC of the wedding and deputy editor of the Hunter River Times paper - took to the publication's Facebook page to issue an urgent warning to the public: don't give your money to fake sites.
"After Sunday's tragedy, there are multiple GoFundMe pages which are circulating across social media. These are NOT OFFICIAL," he wrote. "Thank you for your understanding."
Tigani shared that the only official fundraising site for the victims is the GoFundMe page set up by Melanie Sunderland, who is the Singleton Australian football club secretary. As of now, $121,159 AUD has been raised for victims of the crash.
Per the Daily Mail, a spokesperson for the donations company spoke out after being contacted about the alleged fraudulent fundraising pages. They said that the website has guidelines to assure that funds went to the intended beneficiary and insisted that they are observing and confirming all fundraisers related to the tragedy.
"We are devastated by the news of the tragic incident in the Hunter Valley," they said."All donations are safely held until the GoFundMe Trust & Safety Team are able to complete their checks to ensure that funds can be transferred safely to the intended beneficiary. In the rare case that something isn't right, our platform is backed by the GoFundMe guarantee."
