A man has died and multiple people have been injured in a crash between a car and bus near Dubbo in the central west of New South Wales.
Police said they had launched a critical incident investigation into the crash, which occurred on the Mitchell Highway on Saturday morning.
The driver of the sedan, believed to be a 32-year-old man from western NSW, died at the scene. He is yet to be formally identified.
Several of the 26 people on the bus were treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics for minor injuries.
Seven passengers were taken to hospital for minor and non-life threatening injuries.
The driver of the bus was taken to Dubbo hospital for mandatory testing.
At a media conference on Saturday afternoon, NSW police assistant commissioner Rod Smith said the 54-year-old female driver of the bus had taken “evasive action and probably saved the lives of a lot of people”.
Smith said police had been called to a domestic incident outside Dubbo at about 8.45am on Saturday.
They saw the Mazda being driven from the scene of that incident and turned around to try to pull the car over. He said the driver did not stop and a short pursuit ensued but it was terminated “due to the manner of driving of the offending vehicle”.
“Police were then establishing other ways that they might be able to stop that vehicle,” Smith said.
“At about quarter past nine, that vehicle crossed to the incorrect side of the road and collided head-on with the bus traveling in the other direction.”
Smith said the pursuit had lasted no more than a few minutes and was, at times, “quite slow in speed”.
“But the vehicle was accelerating, braking, going off the side of the road and then on to the incorrect side of the road, which caused the police some significant concern.”
That’s when police took the decision to terminate the pursuit, he said.
He said a critical incident team from Chifley police district was at the scene and would investigate the circumstances surrounding the crash.
In an earlier statement, a spokesperson for NSW police said officers from the Orana Mid Western police district were patrolling the Mitchell Highway at about 9.15am on Saturday when they attempted to stop a Mazda sedan.
“Police activated lights and sirens in an attempt to stop the vehicle; when it failed to stop as directed a pursuit was initiated before being terminated due to safety concerns,” a spokesperson said.
“A short time later, the car hit a bus on the Mitchell Highway, approximately one kilometre east of the intersection of Mitchell Highway and Eulomogo Road, Dubbo.”
The investigation will be subject to an independent review and a report will be prepared for the coroner.
The Mitchell Highway was expected to be closed for several hours in both directions, and motorists were urged to avoid the area.
