Bus Éireann and An Garda Síochána have launched separate investigations into an incident in which a bus mounted a footpath near a bus stop in Waterford city yesterday.
Although no one was seriously injured, 20 people had to be taken to hospital, many of them suffering from shock. A major emergency plan was put into operation.
Passengers were getting off another bus at the time, while others were waiting, some of them seated on a wooden bench.
The incident happened shortly before 11 a.m. on the quays in Waterford when a single-decker bus, destined for Paddy Browne's Road, was dropping off passengers. Another single-decker bus, serving Farren Park, moved forward, clipped the first bus and mounted the footpath near where the passengers were alighting and others were waiting to board.
However, the Farren Park bus was halted when it crashed into a lamp-post. The post became embedded in the front of the bus, preventing it from crashing into a metal and wooden bench on which people were seated.
Gardaí and emergency services were at the scene within minutes, and 19 passengers as well as the driver of the Farren Park bus were taken in a fleet of six ambulances to Waterford Regional Hospital.
A South Eastern Health Board spokesperson confirmed that 20 people had been assessed at the hospital's Accident & Emergency Department. They were suffering from shock and minor injuries such as cuts and bruises.
Nineteen people were discharged by 4.15 p.m., with one person detained later for observation.
Supt Michael McGarry said gardaí had sealed off the scene and a Garda Public Service Inspector carried out a preliminary examination there before both buses were removed to the Bus Éireann depot. An examination of both vehicles was to continue there.
Bus Éireann spokesman Mr Cyril McIntyre said an investigation had been launched by the company, and it would be calling on the help of external experts. The report into the cause of the accident would take a number of weeks to complete, he said.
A witness, Mr Pat Fagan, told RTÉ he had a lucky escape as he was sitting on the bench when the Farren Park bus lurched forward. Only for the electricity pole on the footpath, he and others waiting for buses would have suffered serious injuries, he said.
"I was just sitting on the bench ... I was waiting for a bus when this bus came forward and the post in front of it stopped it. If it wasn't for that, it could have been more serious because I don't think the bench would have held it," he said.
Fellow eyewitness Mr Simon McAuley from New Street told The Irish Times he was walking on the pavement with his three-year-old son when the bus suddenly careered forward and mounted the footpath just behind him, but he managed to get clear.
"I heard this bus revving behind us and I just turned and saw it coming forward at us ... The bus just came forward like a rocket but thankfully the pole stopped it," said Mr McAuley, who was treated in hospital.
