TWENTY years ago tomorrow, two full tourist coaches collided head-on in the early morning at Clybucca Flat, 12km north of Kempsey, at an estimated combined speed of 200 km/h.
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The coaches concertinaed into each other, killing both drivers instantly.
The impact snapped seats from their anchor bolts so that both seats and passengers were hurled about the vehicles with terrific force, which also trapped people and their luggage against the back of the bus.
The force of the impact left the McCafferty’s Sydney-bound coach
in the cabin of the TransCity Brisbane-bound coach.
The Sydney coach was forced five rows back into the other.
The accident triggered a major immediate response as police, SES and volunteer rescuers, fire brigades and paramedics attended the scene.
A fleet of air ambulances and helicopters carried the injured to hospitals at Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour and Sydney. A NSW Coroner’s inquiry into the coach collision found that the McCafferty driver fell asleep at the wheel.
The driver failed to negotiate a left-hand bend on the highway and the coach crossed to the wrong side and collided with the TransCity coach.
The coroner renewed calls for a dual-carriageway highway between Newcastle and the Queensland
border, following 21 deaths in a coach/semi-trailer accident at Cowper, north of Grafton in October, 1989.
The coroner also recommended research into coach seats, seat anchorages and seatbelts.
Better emergency exits for coaches were also recommended, as rescuers were unable to enter the wreckage immediately because the exits were 2.4m above the ground.
The McCafferty coach travelled in a straight line for the curve (on the highway) and there was no indication the driver had applied his brakes or dimmed the headlights, the coroner found.
Neither coach was speeding at the time of the crash, and no mechanical faults were found in either vehicle.
PETER KING: The alderman
TWENTY years on, the passion is still evident.
For one Port Macquarie man, the fight to see the Pacific Highway upgrade complete will not be over until it is over.
Peter King has dedicated years of his life to the fight.
And he gave up public life when he thought the job was done.
Mr King remembers December 22, 1989, like it was yesterday.
Like so many people connected with the tragedy of the Clybucca bus crash, Mr King’s voice becomes measured as he relives the memories of that terrible summer’s day.
At the time of the accident, Mr King was an alderman on the Hastings Municipal Council. He was also
chairman of the North Coast Regional Organisations of Councils (NOROC).
Mr King said before the accident, NOROC had been vigourously campaigning for more than five years to have the Pacific Hwy upgraded.
In October of 1989, the nation was rocked by news of a major accident at Cowper, north of Grafton.
A pre-dawn collision between a semi-trailer and a coach on the Pacific Hwy killed 21 people,
including the truck driver and injured 22.
And then, much closer to home, the nation again paused in disbelief
as the tragedy of Clybucca unfolded.
Two full tourist coaches collided head-on in the early morning at Clybucca Flat, 12km north of Kempsey.
The lives of 35 people were taken, including both drivers, and 41 were injured.
“I received a phone call from NOROC’s executive officer asking me if I’d heard the news,” the former state member said.
“I couldn’t believe it had happened again.”
Mr King said the upgrade of the Paciifc Hwy wasNOROC’s single biggest objective.
The father-of-three said it was obvious to “anyone with any commonsense” the 1989 version
of the Pacific Hwy was inadequete.
“The double tragedies provided stunning verification of our policy.”
He said the push for the upgrade gained momentum and support from all sides of politics.
“It was a sad thing to use the tragedy to achieve the outcomes for the highway, but we recognised
there would never be a better opportunity.”
Mr King retired from political life in 1991.
He lives for the day when the job is done.
LLOYD CHANDLER: The SES volunteer
ALL the training in the world couldn’t prepare Lloyd Chandler for what he saw.
The State Emergency Service volunteer was one of an elite crew trained to assist in road crash rescue.
“It was beyond all belief,” Mr Chandler said.
“You couldn’t imagine how it had actually happened.
“There was blood dripping down the side of the bus and bodies everywhere.”
Mr Chandler said the SES lost a lot of people after the accident.
“The trauma many went through was insane,” he said.
“There were police and ambulance officers by the scene openly crying.”
The call to the Hastings SES was
for all the first aid, rescue equipment and stretchers possible to be taken
to Clybucca.
“We ended up using my utility
and it was chock-a-block full of stretchers and supplies,” the father-of-two said.
“And although we tried to prepare on the way, what we found was unreal.”
He recalled arriving to find people walking around in a daze. The sound of cries filled the air.
“One of the buses actually went entirely into the other and there was no access at all,” the 56-year-old
said.
“But we had a job to do and instinct just kicked in, and we got to it.”
The crew firstly had to cut its way into the bus with whatever they could.
“The emergency exits in the buses were just windows and there was no way we could get stretchers to that height, so we had to cut in however we could,” Mr Chandler said.
“Once inside it was like the back of a flat-topped truck with bodies everywhere and people screaming.”
He recalls the magnititude of the devastation in one simple sentence.
“We set up a hospital on one side of the road and a morgue on the other,” he said.
“I found one of the hardest things of all was some of the elderly would hold your hand and want to tell you something.
“But you had to get back inside and help the others.
“By the time you got out they had passed away.”
His only hope is they didn’t have a message for a loved one.
READ more reflections from the people involved in today's Port News