Victoria's bowls community is in mourning after a popular and hard working member was killed in a regional Victoria bus crash.
Carmel Mitchell, 71, died at the scene when a bus driver lost control of a coach carrying 28 passengers about 3pm on Saturday afternoon, swerving off the Sunraysia Highway near Avoca, crashing into trees and rolling down an embankment.
The mum-of-three and grandmother to seven had been an active member of her community, a member of the Creswick Lions Club for about 30 years, a member of her local bowls club and served on the Ballarat regional board of Bowls Victoria.
"She's been a valued member of the club," Ballarat District Bowls Division chair Sandra Chapman told AAP.
"She's very well liked and a good working member with the bowls fraternity."
The bus, operated by Ballarat Coachlines, was travelling from Mildura to Ballarat carrying a group of bowls players who had been at an annual three-day ladies tournament.
Of the passengers, three were flown to Melbourne hospitals for treatment with their injuries range from serious to critical but stable, Major Collision Investigations Unit Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Mark Amos told reporters on Sunday.
Others with minor to serious injuries were treated at regional hospitals.
The driver, a Vice President of the Ballarat District Bowls Division, was injured but has since been discharged and police are yet to interview him, Det Amos said.
He said Ms Mitchell's death and the crash was having a profound affect on the community and her family.
"This is going to affect probably most people in Ballarat and around that region I would think," he said.
"(Mr Mitchell is) devastated...he is struggling immensely, he's probably lost the single most important thing in his life other than his children."
The bus was fitted with seat belts, and it appeared passengers were wearing them, which is a requirement on buses fitted with the restraints.
"Anecdotally I've got to say there's no doubt this saved lives, if people weren't wearing belts and a bus rolls like that, and travelling at speed ... people would have been thrown around the bus, if not ejected from the bus and that would have made injuries much more catastrophic," Det Amos said.
Police are investigating all possible causes for the crash, but are considering any impairment, fatigue, speed and the mechanical condition of the bus.
Det Amos asked anyone who saw the bus to contact police.
