WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this story contains names and images of people who have died
The heartbroken family of a beloved grandmother who died in a horror bus crash not far from home have broken their silence to express their immense shock and grief.
A Greyhound bus collided with a 4WD towing a caravan on the Bruce Highway near the Wilson Creek Rest Area, between Gumlu and Wangaratta in north Queensland, at about 11am on Sunday.
Three women on board the bus died after it allegedly veered onto the opposite side of the highway moments before the collision.
One of the victims has been identified as a Townsville grandmother-of-eight, 56, who was returning home from Brisbane with her daughter and four grandchildren.
She has previously been named as Emma ‘Allie’ Sailor. The two other women killed were German tourists aged in their 20s and 30s.
The crash also injured 27 passengers, who were among 33 people on board that was heading to Townsville after it left Brisbane.
The grandmother was remembered as a devout Christian and ‘gentle soul’.
Her family said her husband of 19 years was ‘beside himself’.
‘We will miss her presence and smile,’ the family told reporters.
‘It comes as a huge shock to our family [and] we’re still grieving.
‘She was a beautiful church woman, she never hurt anyone, [she was] very strong.
‘She went out of her way to give the shirt off her back to anyone. She was loved and supported by her grandchildren and immediate family.
‘We’re thankful to everyone for their wishes and condolences.’
Two men, aged 23 and 24, were admitted to the hospital in critical conditions. The 23-year-old’s condition has since been downgraded to stable but serious.
Another two men, aged 27 and 51, are also in a stable condition.
Mackay Superintendent Graeme Paine said emergency responders were confronted with a ‘very confronting’ and ‘very complex’ scene.
Police believe the bus veered into the oncoming traffic lane in a 100km/h zone before crashing into the 4WD
The grandmother’s family have implored everyone to wait for the results of the police investigation to find out what happened.
‘We want the full investigation to go through, there’s no point in blaming anyone,’ they said.
‘Let the police and the courts do their side of the business.’
The Bruce Highway was closed until about midnight on Sunday, with the rural location of the crash making it difficult for emergency crews to reach the scene.
Superintendent Paine said the forensic crash unit is investigating the crash.
‘Certainly a crash of this nature involving this many people is a very significant and very tragic incident for us,’ he said.
‘We have a number of specialists on scene that will work through the incident scene.
‘They’ll forensically process the evidence and then we’ll look at that.’
Premier Steven Miles ‘expressed his sympathies’ to everyone affected by the crash but added it was ‘a bit premature to be speculating on [its] cause’.
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