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Hannah Francis, 11, died after a Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bus crashed on Mount Ruapehu on July 28, 2018.
The father of an 11-year-old girl who died in a bus accident on Mount Ruapehu has spoken of the panic expressed by passengers when they realized that the vehicle’s brakes were not working.
The investigation into the death of Hannah Teresa Francis began Tuesday before Coroner Brigitte Windley in Auckland.
Hannah died after a Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bus capsized on Mount Ruapehu on July 28, 2018.
The bus, carrying 31 passengers, passed at the 9-kilometer mark on Ōhakune Mountain Rd, which travels 17 kilometers up Mount Ruapehu to Tūroa.
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Hannah’s father, Matthew Francis, who was among the injured, said in the investigation that he and Hannah took the Ruapehu Alpine Shuttle bus up and down the mountain because he had no chains to put on his vehicle and couldn’t afford any. .
After a day on the slopes, they decided to leave because of bad weather.
At around 2.25pm, the bus left the mountain with about 30 passengers on board.
Francis and Hannah were sitting in the back of the bus, clutching their things.
Francis said he hadn’t noticed anything dangerous in the conditions as they headed down the mountain, and said it wasn’t icy or wet.
Francis, an engineer, said he soon noticed that the driver had not set the bus’s exhaust brake and said he was familiar with the sound.
As they continued down the mountain, Francis said he believed the driver was trying to downshift, but couldn’t.
He heard the first “gear scrape” and saw the driver trying to brake a couple of times.
The bus began to pick up speed and the driver kept slamming on the brakes. The passengers soon realized that the brakes were not working and began yelling instructions at the driver.
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Hannah Francis’ father, Matthew Francis, spoke at the investigation Tuesday.
“I don’t think the driver handled the situation well,” Francis said, adding that one person even told him to hit the bus with trees.
As the bus continued down the mountain, the driver took the corners “okay” but was going too fast.
Passengers continued to panic, and Francis later learned that a person jumped off the bus. People were told to put on their helmets, something Francis and Hannah were already wearing.
At the time of the accident, Francis estimated that the bus was traveling at about 70 km / h. He wrapped his arms around Hannah and pulled her onto his lap before the bus hit a barrier on the right side near a bridge that threw everyone to the right.
“The bus bounced and lurched violently to the left,” Francis said.
It hit the left side of the bench and by then, Hannah had been “ripped” from Francis.
After the accident, Francis exited the bus and found Hannah unconscious and covered in blood. He performed mouth-to-mouth, and she coughed up blood before starting to breathe on her own.
Others came to Hannah’s aid and took Francis away for treatment, before being told that her daughter was critical and would be in one of the first helicopters to go to the hospital.
Francis was airlifted to Whanganui Hospital, where he was told that Hannah had died on the way to the hospital.
Francis said that after an investigation into the accident, he did not find the police explanation for not pressing charges “especially compelling.”
He said he did not understand how it was not the driver’s fault if nothing wrong was found on the bus.
Francis said he wanted to improve driver training and for buses on open roads to be equipped with seat belts. He believed his daughter’s injuries might have been less serious if the seat belts were on the bus.
The investigation continues.
