Five injured in school bus crash

The driver of the school mini-bus received serious leg injuries. Photo / Christine Cornege

Police say an accident in which a driver lost control of a school mini-bus and skidded down a bank before crashing into a tree is a timely reminder to drive to the conditions.

Five people were taken to hospital following the crash on Maungatautari Rd, south of Cambridge, about 12.35pm yesterday after the driver of the late-model Ford Transit van lost control and travelled about 30m down a steep bank.

The mini-bus then crashed through a fence and came to a stop only when it hit a pine tree. The driver, a 39-year-old Tokoroa man, suffered serious leg injuries when his side of the vehicle bore the brunt of the impact.

He was helped from the vehicle by firefighters and taken to Waikato Hospital's emergency department.

Four students from Putaruru's Te Wharekura o Kaokaoroa o Patetere were taken to Tokoroa Hospital with minor injuries.

The class had been on a field trip to a local marae.

Maungatautari farmer Steve Risi was working on his property when he heard the van lose control on the road, which was greasy because of intermittent rain.

"Things went silent because it was obviously going across the grass and then we heard the impact," he said.

"I just raced out there ... The driver was obviously feeling pretty bad about it and he kept asking, 'Are the kids all right?' They were a bit shaken, obviously, and a few of them had cuts but they were okay, ... It could have been a lot worse."

Sergeant Warren Shaw of the Te Awamutu strategic traffic unit said three other students travelling in the van escaped injury.