Gumleaf
April 17th, 2009, 01:38 AM
08:46 AEST Fri Apr 17 2009
A young mother and her two-year-old daughter are among three people killed in a deadly highway bus crash near Portland, in Victoria's southwest.
The 19-year-old woman, who Victorian media have reported was pregnant, her daughter and a 20-year-old man are believed to have died instantly when the the V/Line bus overturned on the Princes Highway at Heathmere last night.
Portland's Acting Senior Sergeant Mark Flannery said the young man had been a local to the area and was known by the community.
A man with a fractured spine has been airlifted to hospital, Ambulance Victoria said.
Intensive care paramedic Jason Hunter, who was aboard the helicopter that flew the injured man to Melbourne's The Alfred hospital on Friday morning, said the main priority was to keep his spine fully immobilised during the flight.
"He sustained an isolated spinal injury as a result of the bus rolling over," Mr Hunter said.
"He was quite stable. He's also sustained minor cuts and abrasions, but this isolated fracture hasn't involved his cord.
"The main priority during the flight was to make sure his spine was fully immobilised."
The bus was travelling between Warrnambool and Mount Gambier with 12 people on board.
Other passengers had been taken Portland Hospital, about 10km from the scene of the crash, with minor injuries.
© AAP 2009
A young mother and her two-year-old daughter are among three people killed in a deadly highway bus crash near Portland, in Victoria's southwest.
The 19-year-old woman, who Victorian media have reported was pregnant, her daughter and a 20-year-old man are believed to have died instantly when the the V/Line bus overturned on the Princes Highway at Heathmere last night.
Portland's Acting Senior Sergeant Mark Flannery said the young man had been a local to the area and was known by the community.
A man with a fractured spine has been airlifted to hospital, Ambulance Victoria said.
Intensive care paramedic Jason Hunter, who was aboard the helicopter that flew the injured man to Melbourne's The Alfred hospital on Friday morning, said the main priority was to keep his spine fully immobilised during the flight.
"He sustained an isolated spinal injury as a result of the bus rolling over," Mr Hunter said.
"He was quite stable. He's also sustained minor cuts and abrasions, but this isolated fracture hasn't involved his cord.
"The main priority during the flight was to make sure his spine was fully immobilised."
The bus was travelling between Warrnambool and Mount Gambier with 12 people on board.
Other passengers had been taken Portland Hospital, about 10km from the scene of the crash, with minor injuries.
© AAP 2009