Eight dead in Samoa bus crash

By JOHN SELKIRK

CRASHED BUS: At least eight people have died after the Lady Analofa crashed on a narrow coastal road in Samoa.

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At least eight people, including a baby have been killed, and a child lost her arm, in a bus crash on a narrow coastal road in Samoa.

A group of New Zealand residents were among the first to reach the scene of the crash, which happened east of the capital Apia on Wednesday.

Up to 30 people were in the bus when it flipped at Solosolo.

Authorities have yet to confirm whether Samoa's September switch to driving on the left was a contributing factor, although speed is believed to have contributed to the accident.

The Samoa Observer said a group of New Zealanders had been returning from Aleipata - scene of September's tsunami - when they saw the bus.

"It happened soon before we'd arrived," Tasi Uta told the Samoa Observer.

"We got out of our cars to see if we could help and saw people squashed under the bus - looked like they were all dead. We could see that others in the bus were still alive."

Mr Uta said he saw a woman, caught under the window of the bus, who was dead. "She was holding a baby which was still alive," he said.

"I took the baby from her and another man took the baby with him."

The bus, named Lady Analofa, was completely destroyed in the crash.

Another eyewitness, Jason Tamali'i told the Samoa Observer the scene was unbelievable.

"I could tell the bus had rolled over because the wheels were still spinning when I got there," he said.

I started to pull people from under the bus, because they were screaming. A lot of people died in the accident, but we got most of the people out."

The bus driver has reportedly fled with police looking for him.

Vailua Lave said a 10-year-old girl survived but had lost her right arm.

"We pulled her out and she had no arm, there was just skin and a hole," he said.

Tragedy has already hit Samoa this year with 143 Samoans killed in a tsunami in September. Recovery has been slow with hundreds of survivors still living in tents or under tarpaulins, nursing tsunami-related injuries.

Although the bus crash has been reported as Samoa's worst ever, several accidents in the 1980s also killed similar numbers.

- with AAP

- © Fairfax NZ News