Bruce Highway bus crash: Townsville grandmother killed in horror smash remembered as her family call for a full investigation

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story contains images of people who have died

The heartbroken family of a beloved grandmother who died in a horrific bus crash near home have broken their silence to express their immense shock and grief.

A Greyhound bus collided with an ATV towing a caravan on the Bruce Highway near the Wilson Creek Rest Area between Gumlu and Wangaratta in north Queensland at around 11am on Sunday.

Three women on the bus were killed after the bus veered to the other side of the highway just before the collision.

One of the victims has been identified as a 56-year-old grandmother of eight from Townsville, who was returning home from Brisbane with her daughter and four grandchildren.

The other two murdered women were German tourists between the ages of 20 and 30.

The crash also injured 27 passengers, among the 33 people on board the plane that was en route from Brisbane to Townsville.

The grandmother was remembered as a devoted Christian and a “gentle soul.”

The woman was travelling home from Brisbane when the Greyhound bus collided with an oncoming four-wheel drive towing a caravan on Bruce Highway

The woman’s daughter was unharmed in the crash

According to her family, her husband of 19 years was “crazy.”

“We will miss her presence and her smile,” the family told reporters.

It is a huge shock to our family [and] We are still in mourning.

‘She was a beautiful church woman, she never hurt anyone, [she was] very strong.

‘She did everything she could to give the shirt off her back to everyone. She was loved and supported by her grandchildren and immediate family.

“We are grateful to everyone for their well-wishes and condolences.”

Two men, aged 23 and 24, were admitted to hospital in critical condition. The 23-year-old’s condition has since been reduced to stable but serious.

Two other men, aged 27 and 51, are also in stable condition.

Mackay Chief Inspector Graeme Paine said emergency services were faced with a “very confrontational” and “very complex” situation.

Police suspect the bus veered into the oncoming lane in a 100 km/h zone before crashing into the four-wheel drive vehicle.

The grandmother’s family is urging everyone to wait for the results of the police investigation to find out what happened.

“We want the full investigation to be carried out, there is no point in blaming anyone,” they said.

“Let the police and the courts do their part.”

The loving mother of four and grandmother of eight was murdered along with two German nationals in their 20s and 30s

Four other people, aged 23, 24, 27 and 51, were also taken to hospital, while the 24-year-old remains in critical condition.

The Bruce Highway was closed until about midnight on Sunday. The location of the crash was rural, making it difficult for emergency services to reach the scene.

Chief Inspector Paine said the forensic crash unit is investigating the accident.

“A crash of this nature, involving so many people, is certainly a very serious and tragic event for us,” he said.

‘We have a number of specialists on site who will review the incident scene.

“They’re going to forensically examine the evidence and then we’ll look at that.”

Prime Minister Steven Miles ‘expressed his condolences’ to everyone affected by the crash, but added that it was ‘too early to speculate on [its] cause’.