Tragic bus accident, Lano, Savai'i, Samoa 06.07.2013

Lano, Savai'i, Samao. July 6th, 2013

The rain was heavy the previous night, and there was a thunderstorm. I got up for breakfast and met the others, our fale had been hit worse than Janas, the beds were a bit damp. I had had a dry sleep. The rain continued. About midday, a bunch of small buses pulled into the fales. He told us the road was blocked in both directions due to heavy rain causing flooding and blocking the roads. I asked Jana and Lotta if they wanted to investigate, Lotta refused but Jana said yes. We went off into the pouring rain, about 1km down the road. We got to where the river runs under the road, but instead of a road there was a raging torrent. People were standing about on both sides just looking at it. We took some pictures and generally larked about.

The state of the road

Crossing by foot was impossible, even for the locals

Sensible

We met a guy who owned the house next to the river called Sai and chatted with him a bit.

Sai and the flooding in front of his house. River is to the right of the pic

The traffic began to pile up on both sides of the blockage.
The next thing a bus attempted the crossing. Jana was yelling at me to take a picture and I was trying to get the camera onto video mode. What happened next was a disaster. The bus got about 3/4 of the way across, but the current was too strong, and it slid towards the lower edge of the road. At this point people started screaming. There was a drop of about 1m from road to river, and as the bus went in it turned on its roof.

Press links

http://samoaobserver.ws/home/headlines/6010-village-rescue
http://samoaobserver.ws/editorial/5938-a-waste-of-precious-lives
http://samoaobserver.ws/home/headlines/5875-tragedy-raises-safety-questions
http://samoaobserver.ws/accidents/5868-two-confirmed-deaths-25-injured-police
http://samoaobserver.ws/home/headlines/5843-two-girls-die
www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/5023231/bus-flipped-over-in-flood.html
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/8902138/Breakers-coach-Vickermans-bus-crash-rescue
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/travel/travel-incidents/i-cant-get-out-of-here-backpacker-relives-samoa-bus-crash-20130711-2ps6m.html

At this point I put the camera down, covered up because of the rain, and started heading towards the seafront where everything was being dragged to. The bus did another 90 degree roll so the roof was now facing me, and the force of the water ripped the roof off, exposing the people inside like terrified sardines in a can. People started jumping out left right and centre, the more able were able to scramble to the banks of the river, the less able were dragged out by the terrific current. I ran to the sea edge and waded in, looking for someone to help. There were a lot of people in the water, tourists and Samoan, many joined in to help. I saw an old samoan woman waving at me from another 20m out, I was already about 60m out.Luckily the water never got beyond chest height. A Samoan already had her by one side, so I got on the other, her arm around my shoulder. The woman was delirious and moaned constantly, and kept looking on the verge of unconsciousness. Her head kept lolling forward into the water, so I was half supporting her head and half carrying her, and trying to get her to put her feet on the floor, which sort of half worked. At some point during this I realised the arm around me had big hole in it. I now know what is meant by the term ragged flesh. It was horrible. Strangely it didnt seem to be bleeding to badly, but maybe I just couldnt see because of the water. We couldnt walk up the current it was too strong, so we had to go out to the side. We eventually got her to the steep rocks, where four strong samoans carried her up, At this point I noticed her other other arm was visibly broken, just below the elbow.I remember one of the Samoans pulling her wrist from her elbow, I guess he was trying to straighten it out, I winced. I scanned the sea again, but getting the old woman out had been so slow that there appeared to be no-one left. I climbed up to survey the damage. I had kept checking the coast for Jana, but she had been nowhere to be seen. The house next door belonging to Sai had been turned into a first aid station. Out the back I found Jana who was tending to a white girl who seemed in a bad way. Turns out she was German, so it was comforting for her to have Jana there She was white as a sheet and shivering. She had blood running from her head. Jana seemed to be doing a good job. I spied my camera behind her. From the time of the bus going in the water until the end of the movie it took was 15 minutes. I cant remember if I stopped it or if it stopped itself. I went on to the house to see what was going on. The old woman seemed to be in the worst condition, she was being cared for by some Samoans. I found out later that one of the woman present was a nurse. Everybody else either seemed to be in shock, have minor wounds and possibly a suspected closed broken bone here and there. I suddenly remembered I had a basic first aid kit back at the fale. I told Jana what I was doing and ran back to get it. The water was almost knee deep on the roads at some point. I had been barefoot for the entire time. I was never very good at walking on the jaggy road, but it didnt seem to matter too much this time. I got back the fales where life had been continuing as normal. I told the group, perhaps not audibly enough, that they should get their shoes on and follow me to help, there had been a terrible accident. I made sure Lotta heard me. She got ready and I found the first aid kit. We jogged back and on the way I told Lotta the situation. She started to cry and said she didnt know if she would able to handle it. I took her by the hand and told her she was going to be fine. We arrived at the house, having to wade through thigh deep water to get to it. I spread the first aid contents on a table and not sure what to do first, I offered ibuprofen to those obviously in pain. I said to Lotta maybe she should take the disinfectant and start administering it to cuts. She did this like a star, administered small bandages and generally had a great bedside manner. Jana was also now inside with the injured german girl Tina and was busy bandaging up her head and talking softly to her.  I surveyed the scene and everything seemed to be generally under control. The scene was actually surprisingly calm. I took this to mean that everything WAS under control and that no-one was obviously missing or dead. I helped get the old lady on to her back with a bunch of others. She was much quieter now, I wasnt sure how to interpret that, but she generally seemed calmer. It was still raining heavily outside. We heard the ambulance crews were on route, and after maybe 45 minutes, Lotta and I decided to return to the beach fales and leave Jana with Tina. We expected to be able to return to some sort of calm and take stock, but it wasn't to be. It was all kicking off at the fales too.
Part of the flow of the flood was coming directly past the main building, eating the sand away from underneath it. The corner of the building looked in serious danger of collapse.

Not good

Additionally the beach had been eaten away under half of our our fale (Lottas and mine) and the stilts it rests on looked dangerously exposed. I didnt know how deep they went, but just over a metre of beach was missing and I figured it couldnt be much more before they went over.

Where the beach used to be

Additionally the whole front courtyard, parking area was badly flooded. I couldn't believe it.

The front courtyard

I realised then that the flooding was more serious than I had estimated, and that actually we were all in danger. The luggage had all been moved by the the other guests from the fales to the main building, which, with the exception of our fale, looked in the most serious trouble, and was certainly the most dangerous. As we arrived, people were starting to realise the danger the house was in. Suddenly the owner barked something, and we were moving all the tables and bags to the opposite side of the building. The entire front of the building is open, the roof is supported by concrete pillars. It was starting to look like some sort of precarious refugee camp. I checked the weather forecast on my phone and found that rain was predicted for the next couple of days. I smoked and contemplated. there was few ways out, boat would actually be the best way. The road was blocked on both sides. Peope started slowly to get into action, a few of the boys, both Samoans and tourists, started trying to redirect the torrent of water from the house, using debris and corrugated iron. A dam was erected at the front gate to try, with limited success, to stem the flow of water. An operation was also started to divert the water away from the toilet block. At this point I met the owner, who looked curiously unperturbed by the days events so far. We had a quick conversation and he said come, come. His sister was lying in the back room with a badly swollen wrist. She had movement in the fingers so I dont think it was broken,but she was clearly in a lot of pain. She had been on the bus, I recognised her from the triage. I had no idea she was there. I called Lotta and together we got the only cold things we could find, bottles of water from the fridge and Lotta set about arranging them around her wrist. We didnt administer anymore painkillers as she told us she had had some, and seeing as there had been a nurse present at triage we didnt know the strength of what she had already received, or what. I left Lotta to it, but told her if she heard the building creaking or groaning to get everybody out the closed rooms asap, as the building was unstable. I had already tried to talk the owner into it, but like I say, he seemed fairly non-plussed. I returned outside and helped with the effort of digging channels to keep the water away from the toilet block and causing further damage to the beach and therefore the fales. The boys digging round the house seemed to have a plan and I left them to it. The corner of the house was slowly subsiding and by this point the corner was starting to break.

Makeshift barrier was set up to stop people getting too close

Half the concrete stairs had already fallen off due to there no longer being anything underneath them and the black and white checkered floor surface was noticeably broken. Assisted by a Samoan girl I set about filling a washing up bowl with sand and using it to create a new channel for the water. There were others doing the same. After a while I decided to move outside the partially effective perimeter dam and try to stem the flow from that side. That would leave us only stagnant water to deal with afterwards. I took my bowl outside and started doing the same thing again, trying to block up the holes enough so the water would eventually flow round the toilet block and straight into the existing gully on the other side. I did this for about half an hour and in the meantime saw Lotta and a string of followers moving the injured woman across the street to the safer building, much to my relief. She had finally managed to talk them into it. Passers by smiled and probably wondered what the hell I was doing. I noticed that the waster was starting to subside, the rain had stopped about the time I changed sides. By the time I was done, the flow towards the fales had stopped and the road was already noticeably better. Unless the rains came again, the situation had stabilised. I called a day and returned to the main building, the washing bowl more a ribbon of broken plastic now than a washing bowl. We all stood around, and took stock; a bond had been formed between us all. The fear was noticeably reduced. The corner of the building was now a gaping chasm where the floor had given way. Remarkably, the roof was still holding. I asked the owner if I could get beers and waters for us all from the fridge and he said yes, so I filled a crate and we all got stuck in. At this point my thoughts returned to Jana, who still hadn't showed up back at the fales. I told Lotta I was going back to find her and she joined me. We walked the kilometre down the road again, back to the accident site. The bus was in the river, the right way up, with no roof. The slogan across the side of the bus "Paradise in Heaven" seemed like a cruel joke. There were still people milling about and cars had started to cross the previously uncrossable river again. There were two ambulances parked, and we could see the ambulance people in hi-vis gear. We deposited our beers on the street before going into the triage area, as Lotta pointed out it seemed like bad taste to waltz in with beers. Jana was still there tending the german, who looked much better. Jana was shivering with cold as she was still wet. We found her a change of clothes. I gave her a cigarette and a hug, and told her that whatever else she may fear, it didnt matter. She had been strong when it counted the most and I was proud of her. Our timing was good, as the ambulance people were ready to take the worst of the injured. The old woman was stretchered into the ambulance and Jana went with Tina to the hospital. I scribbled down my NZ number in case she needed to contact us, the only number I knew by heart. It seemed like the story was over. On our way back to the fale, Robbie and Anna, a couple who had been there the first couple of nights drove past, all smiles, blissfully unaware. We filled them in and told them we wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. They said they were going north and were happy to take us. We jumped at the chance. We headed back to the fale and packed quickly. The owners wife came out from the building and asked how many beers we have had. I was half-dreading this, that we (I) would have to pay for the beers that we took, after helping to save their livelihoods. I ignored the subsequent discussion as everybody grumbled and dug around for change. I got my stuff together until Andy turned around and asked me, hey Scott what did the owner did you say to you? All eyes turned expectedly to me and i said the owner said I could take the beers. His wife said did he say for free? And I said no, but he said I could take them. At this point I think her consciounce got the better of her and she said ah ok, you dont have to pay and gave everybody their money back. After that though the owners were shit for me. The owner himself had done precious little to help, and his wife had helped erect the perimeter dam, but that was about it. Im struggling to remember if they ever properly said thanks.We got in the car, and that was the first time I had stopped moving and thinking since the accident. My spirits crashed and I became quiet and morose. I basically stayed that way the whole evening, the whole incident kept replaying in my head. Most prominently the old womans face and moaning, the state of her arms, and seeing all the people in the bus as the roof was ripped off.I was nonetheless happy to be out of there and as we pulled up to Reginas Beach Fales in Manase, it seemed like a haven of tranquility and I was happy to be there. We talked with the host and told her about our experiences. She shed a tear, as she knew Tina and told us of two Australian girls who had also been on the bus. We hadn't met and didn't know what had happened to them. We sat around and Lotta told the tale to the other guests. We met Roberta again, who had left on the previous bus to the crashed bus from Joelan. After dinner I pretty much went to bed. Lotta came shortly after and we discussed the whole thing again. Andy sent me a msg to say Jana was safely back at Joelan. We talked briefly on the phone, and although she was badly shaken, she was OK.

Epilogue

The following day I found out that two little girls died in the accident. 12 and 5, related and from the same village. Sai was one of the unfortunate people to find the bodies. Tina eventually made it safely back to Germany after being taken care of by the German consul in Apia for just over a week. The driver was badly injured and the police are waiting for a new crimes act with harsher punishments before starting the legal process. He will most probably be charged with either manslaughter or murder and face life in jail.