Hunter Valley wedding bus crash: Ten victims formally identified
Wedding bus accident victims finally officially identified after forensic officers painstakingly work through mutilated wreckage
- Ten victims of Hunter wedding bus tragedy formally identified
- The identity of the victims had to be officially linked to the database
- Their bodies will now be returned to their families
All victims of the Hunter bus crash have been formally identified after eight days of painstaking work by forensic officers.
Ten people were killed when a bus carrying wedding guests crashed into a roundabout on Wine Country Drive near the Hunter Expressway exit near Greta on Sunday, June 11.
On Tuesday, detectives met with state coroner Teresa O’Sullivan to decide whether the deceased’s identity could be formally changed from “undeclared” to “identified.”
After a tedious process between authorities including the police, forensic pathologists and disaster victim identification experts, they were formally identified.
After more than a week of painstaking work by disaster victim specialists, the ten victims of the Hunter wedding bus crash have been formally identified
Andrew and Lynan Scott of Singleton were among the dead
Kyah and Nadene McBride of Singleton were killed in the crash
The persons who died in the crash were: Andrew and Lynan Scott, Nadene McBride, Kyah McBride, Kane Symons, Tori Cowburn, Bec Mullen, Zach Bray, Andrew Craig and Darcy Bulman.
“Today, officers from the Forensic Evidence & Technical Services – with help from other specialist police forces – have completed the disaster victim identification process of the 10 passengers who died on board the Greta bus crash,” NSW Police said.
The identification process took more than a week due to authorities’ obligation to use “disaster victim identification,” a protocol that ensures human remains are not misidentified after a mass casualty.
The specific protocols are based on ante-mortem information compared to post-mortem information.
Once the identity was confirmed, family liaison officers broke the news to the devastated relatives of all the victims and the process of formally returning their remains began.
Many of the ten victims were connected to the Singleton Roosters AFL club, including Singleton Roosterettes captain Tori Coburn, team coach Nadene McBride, her daughter Kyah, and her daughter’s boyfriend, Kane Symons.
Tori Cowburn, from Singleton, was the captain of the Singleton Roosters football team
Kane Symons was killed in the Hunter bus crash (left) along with engineer Angus Craig (right)
Singleton husband and wife Andrew and Lynan Scott were also among the victims and both played for Singleton Roosters.
Darcy Bulman, a 30-year-old researcher for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission from Melbourne, was also killed.
Rebecca Mullen, a junior doctor and Singleton local who worked at Calvary Mater Newcastle Hospital, also died in the crash.
Others killed were Zach Bray, who worked as a mining engineer in the Hunter region, and engineer Angus Craig who had worked with Queensland mining company BHP.
Bus driver Brett Andrew Button remains free on bail and is charged with 10 counts of dangerous driving resulting in death and one count of negligent driving resulting in death.
Darcy Bulman (left), a 30-year-old researcher for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, was murdered along with medical assistant Rebecca Mullen (right)