Two Die on Australian School Trip to New Zealand
A Queensland, Australia school is in mourning after a student and staff member died in a traffic accident during a school trip in New Zealand's north island.
Gabriel Runge, 16, and teacher Andrew Vogel, 36, who was driving the minibus, were both killed in the crash when the vehicle collided with a milk tanker on a Bay of Plenty highway on Friday afternoon.
The van was carrying two teachers and seven teenagers from the Noosa Pengari Steiner School, who were in New Zealand on a seven-day hiking trip.
Principal Allen Kloeden said the accident had stunned the entire school community.
"It is with deep regret and sadness that I advise of the loss of two of our community," Mr Kloeden said in a statement.
"Since receiving this news, a team of staff members have been activating support, gathering information, counselling and care for everyone involved."
One of the other students, a 16-year-old boy, was taken to Waikato Hospital in a critical condition.
The five other students and a female teacher in her late 40s were taken to a nearby Rotorua Hospital, but, despite many of them having to be cut out of the wreckage of the vehicle, all were later discharged.
The group had walked the popular Tongariro Crossing, one of New Zealand's Great Walks, and was making its way back to Rotorua when the van collided with the tanker heading in the other direction near Reporoa, police say.
The 60-year-old driver of the tanker was taken to Rotorua Hospital and has since been discharged.
Dairy co-operative Fonterra, which owns the tanker, has extended its sympathy to the families involved.
Investigations into the cause of the accident are ongoing.
