A bus driver has died and at least nine passengers are injured after a bus carrying 45 passengers crashed into the dislodged trailers of a truck in Victoria.
Police believe the B-double truck was travelling in front of the bus when its trailers dislodged, blocking the highway and causing the crash near Pimpinio, west of Horsham, about 2am on Thursday.
The male bus driver, 60, from Ferntree Gully, died at the scene.
Nine passengers were treated by paramedics, with two flown to Melbourne.
The other seven were taken to a local hospital for treatment, while the rest of the passengers were also assessed.
Some passengers had to be extracted from the bus windows because the front of the bus was significantly damaged.
"It appears a truck trailer has rolled over and a passenger bus has crashed into that trailer," Detective Sergeant Christopher Hayes, of the Major Collision Investigation Unit, told reporters.
"They're quite clearly travelling in the same direction, but the question is how far apart."
The truck driver, a man, 36, from Murray Bridge, South Australia, and his female passenger, 22, also of South Australia, were uninjured.
Police said fatigue, mechanics, drugs, alcohol and wet and windy weather would be investigated to see if they were a factor, as well as the actions of the bus driver when he encountered the situation.
"Sadly it's had a horrible outcome for him, but the potential for death and injury is enormous, I can't overstate it," Det Sgt Hayes said.
"Those people will be shaken up, there's no question about it.
"Some of them obviously are injured and will have a physical reminder of this event, but the psychological scars that will echo throughout their lives, the impacts multiply."
A man in his 40s flown to Royal Melbourne Hospital with leg injuries is in a stable condition, as is a woman in her 60s with arm injuries.
Another seven people, aged from their teens to their 70s, were taken to Wimmera Health Care in Horsham after paramedic treatment.
Det Sgt Hayes said the passengers taken to Horsham were in limbo as police made arrangements to help them finish their journey, on what is a main route between Melbourne and Adelaide.
"A lot of their personal effects are still within this crime scene, so we're making attempts to repatriate all those belongings to them. That's a significant logistical part of this job," he said.
