At least 10 people have failed and 15 others are in sanitarium after a marriage machine crashed in an Australian wine region north of Sydney, officers say.
The passengers were returning from a marriage at a winery on Sunday night in the Hunter Valley when their trainer capsized near the city of Greta.
Police have charged the 58- time-old machine motorist with 10 counts of dangerous driving which redounded in death.
They said they were still in the process of relating the dead.
The newlyweds weren’t reported to be on the machine, which crashed in the state of New South Wales.
The motorist, who’s from the city of Maitland, north of Sydney, has been refused bail and will appear in court in Cessnock on Tuesday.
Police manager Karen Webb said the point of the crash is” still an active crime scene”.” We have got forensics officers recycling the crime scene, we have got crash disquisition unit officers, we have got deliverance officers( on scene),” she added.
The accident passed about 2330 original time( 1330 GMT) on Sunday when, according to police, there had been heavy fog in the area. The machine had rolled over while making a turn at a cloverleaf off a trace. Authorities say the vehicle has now been pulled upright.
New South Wales Police acting adjunct manager Tracy Chapman said the guests were travelling to Singleton” presumably for their accommodation”. Two of the survivors were airlifted from the crash, she added. Original media report that at least one of them is still in a critical condition.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it’s” so cruel, so sad and so illegal” for a” joyful day in a beautiful place like that to end with similar terrible loss of life”.
” People hire a machine for marriages in order to keep their guests safe, and that just adds to the unconceivable nature of this tragedy,” he said at a press conference in Canberra.
Mr Albanese said some of the injured passengers are at John Hunter Hospital, but numerous had been flown to Sydney.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said the loss of so numerous lives was” nothing short of heartbreaking”, adding” For this terrible crash to have passed on a day that should have been filled with love and happiness only adds to the heartache.”
” For a day of joy to end in similar ruinous loss is cruel indeed. Our studies are also with those who have been injured,” he said.
Hunter Valley in New South Wales is known for its stations and native bushland, making it a popular spot for wine suckers and group jaunts or fests.
A guest at the marriage said the day had been a” puck tale” until news of the accident broke.
” We all started scarifying,” he told 7 News.
Police said they’re still working to identify the crash victims and communicate their coming of kin.
” Family and musketeers of a person who may have been on board the machine are prompted to communicate Cessnock Police Station,” they said in a statement.
