Key Points
- A woman has died in Brisbane’s CBD after being pinned by a bus.
- A council representative said the driver was ‘experienced’.
- The bus had recently been through testing.
Authorities have pledged to find answers after an 18-year-old woman died when she was pinned between a bus and a building in Brisbane’s city centre.
Emergency services were called following reports of a serious crash on Edward Street involving a bus hitting a pedestrian about 5pm on Friday.
The bus had mounted the kerb and pinned the woman against a wall near one of the city’s busiest intersections during peak hour.
The woman suffered critical injuries and died at the scene.
She has since been identified as Tia Cameron, an administration worker at the prestigious Brisbane Club.
Paramedics assessed nine passengers on the bus and transported five, including the driver, to hospital with minor injuries.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the Forensic Crash Unit would undertake a thorough investigation, including scouring footage from the bus and traffic cameras.
“To the family and friends of Tia Cameron who tragically lost her life, and to everyone impacted, the thoughts, prayers and hearts of Brisbane are with you,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday afternoon.
“What happened in Brisbane last night was a devastating tragedy.
“It has left our entire community in shock.”
“I want to assure the people of Brisbane we will find answers,” he told reporters in Brisbane.
The bus driver would not operate any council buses while the crash was under investigation, Schrinner said.
He urged the public not to speculate on the reasons for the crash.
“That will be determined – we will have those answers,” he said.
Council’s Transport for Brisbane divisional manager Samantha Abeydeera said the bus’s brakes were tested in February.
She said she believed council’s fleet was “very safe”.
“There was a routine 10,000km testing of the bus last month and now the vehicle will actually go through engineering investigation to ensure there were no mechanical failures,” she said.
“We are convinced that we have a very safe fleet, very safe operators … we absolutely take the duty to the city very seriously.”
Abeydeera said the bus driver had a safe driving history.
“The bus driver has been operating with us for decades,” she said.
“(They are) a very experienced driver, with a strong performance record.”
People working in the area described their shock as some left flowers at the scene.
“I walk the street almost every day … I took the bus this morning and definitely sat there and pondered over things,” Minh Phan, the owner of a nearby beauty salon, told ABC News.
“I feel very sorry for the family.”
Schrinner described the incident as a truly devastating and heart-breaking scenario.
“It was a Friday night – people thinking about what they were doing for the weekend, finishing up work … this is not something that anyone would anticipate happening,” he said.
“Walking on a busy street and seeing this tragedy, it touches us all, because it could have been anybody.”
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