KEY POINTS:
Brake failure is suspected as the reason a bus carrying 40 university students on a Queenstown ski trip careered off a road, leaving 15 passengers injured.
The crash on a remote stretch of road to the Cardrona ski field has failed to deter the Dunedin students from hitting the snow slopes today.
A bus was forced off the Cardrona Access Rd late yesterday afternoon, unable to slow down on the last corner before joining Cardrona Valley Rd.
Although the injuries were considered "very minor" by St John staff, some of the passengers had to be stretchered out of the wreckage.
Two students were treated for minor injuries at Lakes District Hospital in Queenstown. Five others were transported to Wanaka Medical Centre, while the rest were taken to Queenstown.
Kayne Baas, director of the bus company Passenger Transport, said the cause of the crash remained unknown until police investigations were completed.
But Baas suspected brake failure from a loss of air pressure, or the brakes getting too hot, meant the driver had no choice but to leave the road. "It's never a good thing to happen," he said.
"Fortunately, it happened in a good place, and the driver did the right thing."
The bus was badly damaged and a company driver was coming up from Dunedin to drive the wreckage back.
The students were taken to Queenstown last night and planned to return to the ski field today.
