Aussies injured in fatal Vanuatu bus crash

A NSW woman says P&O has kept her family in the dark about the injuries her elderly grandparents suffered in a fatal bus crash in Vanuatu.

Sarah Bushel says her grandparents, Moyna Exley and Brian Exley, both aged in their 70s, had been holidaying on P&O's Pacific Dawn cruise ship and were on a shore visit in Port Vila when the crash happened.

The elderly couple, from Banora Point on the Queensland-NSW border, have serious injuries including broken bones and open wounds.

"We had no contact with anyone and only were able to get the information from the Aussie consulate. My family are slowly coping but we are all in distress," she told AAP.

 

 

P&O says 12 Pacific Dawn passengers were hurt in the head-on smash that killed two locals on Monday (local time).

Ten of the 12 are seriously injured, and air ambulances are evacuating patients to Noumea and Brisbane.

Ms Bushel said her aunty was the emergency contact for her grandparents.

"P&O cruises wouldn't even tell her anything about my grandparents. It took us five hours to find out what had happened," she said.

"My nan has a broken femur and open wounds and was sent to the hospital in Port Vila. My grandad was sent back to the ship with a fractured left arm. After hours of fighting with P&O they have finally allowed my grandad to go to the hospital as he has a heart condition."

She said they were being flown to a private hospital in Noumea, before hopefully being flown back to Brisbane on Wednesday.

"We haven't had any communication with my grandparents at all," she said.

A P&O spokesman said the company had made contact with the families of all its injured passengers, to assure them their loved ones were being taken care of.

Asked about Ms Bushel's criticisms, he said: "At that point the information may still have been sketchy. We continue to be in contact with the families."

He would not comment on Facebook posts by former Pacific Dawn passengers, who said they'd feared for their own safety while on bus tours in Vanuatu.

Some former P&O passengers have called on the company to do more to ensure only experienced tour bus drivers are used, and that vehicles are not defective.

"Our focus for the moment is on the airlift, on getting injured passengers from Port Vila," he said.

"We make very very strong efforts to ensure the tour operators we use are the best and safety available, consistent with our own very high standards of safety and security."

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