Vic: Bus driver in fatal crash not tired: organiser

AAP General News (Australia)
04-18-2008
Vic: Bus driver in fatal crash not tired: organiser

By Melissa Iaria

MELBOURNE, April 18 AAP - The Victorian organiser of an Egyptian bus tour in which
six Australians died has denied the coach driver was fatigued.

Witnesses have told the inquest in Melbourne the driver was tired after driving long
hours without proper breaks before the 2006 accident near Cairo.

They have alleged the driver was sending text messages, talking on his mobile phone,
overtaking unnecessarily and speeding before the crash happened.

However, travel agent Stephen Seif, who markets Egypt Tours in Australia, told the
coronial inquest into the collision there was no way the driver was tired or acting contrary
to his duty.

"At no stage did I feel concerned of or about the driving or attitude of the coach
driver or personnel," he said in his statement.

Six Australians were killed and 24 people, mostly Australians, were injured when the
tour bus crashed and flipped on a desert highway near Cairo on January 10, 2006.

A passenger on the bus, Victorian police sergeant David Jessup, today gave evidence
that he saw the driver stretch his arms, rub his eyes and yawn.

"I believed that the driver was very tired and also saw that his head began to nod
forward," Sgt Jessup said.

"Suddenly, we began to fishtail down the road and I had no doubt that the driver had
gone to sleep and when he had awoken he was trying to regain control of the bus."

Another survivor, police commander Ashley Dickinson, said the bus had violently swerved,
leading him to also believe the driver had fallen asleep and then awoke.

Mr Seif, who was a front passenger in a coach trailing the bus that crashed, said he
did not see it leave the road.

He said there were no street lights and the road was covered in water.

Some witnesses have testified the road was dry at the time of the accident and that
the bus was doing up to 120km/h.

However, Mr Seif told the court the bus had been travelling about 80km/h to 90km/h
before the crash.

Mr Seif said Egyptian company Grand Tours was responsible for arranging the hire of
the bus company and his tours made "very little profit".

He agreed that on the day of the crash the tour's two bus drivers had been working
for 16 hours each, but he said this was not cause for concern.

"Since 1990, I've done nearly 50 tours; I've had no hesitation whatsoever. Not even
one complaint from any person. That was horrific that day, what happened," he said.

The bus driver, Mahmoud Muhamed Hafez, was jailed for three years for culpable driving
but his term was reduced to one year on appeal.

Killed were Victorian police officers Sergeant George Panayiotis, 48, and Senior Constable
Kristy Olsen, 34; Warwick Lorne Greville, 68; Luciano Prenner, 56; Mark Ritchie, 48, and
his 14-year-old son Drew.

The group was on a cultural exchange to Egypt and were returning to Cairo from the
El Alamein battlefield when the crash happened.

Victorian coroner Paresa Spanos adjourned the inquest to a date to be fixed.

AAP mi/pmu/jnb/cdh

KEYWORD: EGYPT CRASH NIGHTLEAD

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