WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Two buses carrying Chinese tourists veered off the same stretch of road in perilous weather conditions on New Zealand’s South Island on Thursday, with 15 passengers taken to hospital, two of them seriously hurt.
The buses were traveling in the same direction on a stretch of highway popular with tourists when they slid from the road and overturned, at about the same time and only 100 meters (109 yards) apart, New Zealand’s police said in an emailed statement. Temperatures in the area were freezing and others driving on the highway reported heavy fog and black ice on the road at the time.
Their cause was not known, New Zealand officials said. A spokesperson would not confirm the nationality of those on board but the Chinese consulate in Christchurch told The Associated Press by email that the buses were carrying Chinese tourists.
The local ambulance service said 15 people were taken to hospital, two by helicopter in a serious condition. Eight of those hospitalized were moderately hurt and five had minor injuries. Officials did not say how many others were treated at the scene or how many people were on the buses.
No other vehicles were involved in the crashes. The road remained closed several hours later, with no alternate routes available.
Grace Duggin, an Australian tourist, was traveling in a car behind one of the buses and saw it veer off the road, rolling multiple times before landing in a field. Conditions before the crash were made treacherous by slippery black ice, she said, which regularly closes the South Island’s tourist highways in winter.
One man pulled bloodied passengers out through a hatch in the roof of the bus, Duggin said.
“It was mostly the little kids who had severe head lacerations," she said. "All the windows were completely smashed out on both sides and the windscreen, so obviously there’s been a lot of glass injuries.”
Duggin said the other bus appeared to have veered off the road at the same time, a short distance further along the highway on the same side of the road.
Neither bus appeared to have been involved in the other’s crash, she said. The two vehicles appeared identical, though no logo or company name was visible on either.
The country’s transport agency had earlier issued a warning about wintry conditions on the road, State Highway 8. The stretch where Thursday’s crash happened — between the township of Lake Tekapo and the town of Twizel — had been closed days earlier after another crash on a snowy, icy morning.
Like many of the South Island’s tourist highways, the road traverses the pristine mountain and lakefront vistas that draw visitors to New Zealand — but can be dangerous in the Southern Hemisphere winter, especially to travelers unused to winding, slippery roads. Tourists and locals have died on the same stretch before; in April, four were killed — including two Malaysian students studying in New Zealand — in a three-car crash.
In 2019, an American tourist pleaded guilty to driving charges after he drifted onto the wrong side of the road, hitting another car and killing a man who was visiting from Australia.
Elsewhere in the country, tourist buses have plunged from New Zealand’s highways — which outside of the main cities are often winding, narrow or mountainous — in deadly crashes before. In one of the worst episodes, a bus flipped in rainy conditions north of Rotorua, on the North Island, in 2019 killing five tourists from China.
In 2008, eight tourists and their driver were killed when their bus hit a logging truck.
Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu contributed reporting from Beijing.
In this photo provided by Grace Duggin people are in a ditch after a bus carrying Chinese tourists crashed near Lake Tekapo, New Zealand, on Thursday, July 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Grace Duggin)
In this photo provided by Grace Duggin, people are in a ditch after a bus carrying Chinese tourists crashed near Lake Tekapo, New Zealand, on Thursday, July 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Grace Duggin)
In this photo provided by Grace Duggin, people are in a ditch after a bus carrying Chinese tourists crashed near Lake Tekapo, New Zealand, on Thursday, July 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Grace Duggin)
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Shane Baz allowed two runs and two hits over seven innings, Jose Siri homered and drove in four runs, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 8-3 on Tuesday night.
Baz (3-3) struck out six and walked one, and set a team mark with his fifth consecutive start of giving up three hits or fewer over five-plus innings.
Siri hit one of Tampa Bay's three homers during a four-run fifth inning and extended the Rays lead to 8-3 with his three-run bloop double to left in the eighth.
Junior Caminero, Josh Lowe and Brandon Lowe also homered for the Rays. Tampa Bay trails Minnesota by six games for the final AL wild card, and would also have pass Boston, Seattle and Detroit.
“We're not dead," Baz said. “I don't think anybody in this locker room is acting like it. We're still playing hard, and we're going to continue to play hard.”
Triston Casas and Romy Gonzalez homered for Boston, which is five back of the Twins with 11 games remaining.
“It's not a lack of effort,” Boston manger Alex Cora said. “It's not happening for us right now.”
After Caminero hit a fourth-inning solo homer, Josh Lowe and Siri homered during the fifth against Nick Pivetta (5-11) to give the Rays a 3-2 lead.
Caminero said he told Siri — who raised his batting average from .189 to .192 after going 2 for 4 — before the game he would go deep.
“I like how the vibe felt today,” Caminero said through a translator. “A lot of good energy among ourselves.”
Pivetta cramped up in the neck-shoulder area after striking out Logan Driscoll. Pivetta stayed in the game after being checked out and allowed Siri's 339-foot homer down the left-field line and Yandy Díaz's double that ended his night.
Cora expects Pivetta to make his next schedueld start.
Bailey Horn replaced Pivetta and gave up Brandon Lowe's two-run homer that made it 5-2.
Pivetta allowed four runs and five hits over 4 2/3 innings.
Casas had seven hits in his previous 49 at-bats before he put the Red Sox up 2-0 with his second-inning homer. Gonzalez hit a pinch-hit homer off Garrett Cleavinger leading of the eighth.
Kevin Kelly worked the ninth to extend his scoreless streak to 20 1/3 innings and complete a three-hitter.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Red Sox: RHP Bryan Mata (right hamstring) will most likely not make his major-league this season.
Rays: Shane McClanahan (Tommy John surgery) will throw to hitters on Sept. 26. ... Caminero had a stinger on his hand during a seventh-inning at-bat and stayed in the game.
UP NEXT
Cora said RHP Tanner Houck (8-10, 3.24 ERA) will make his first start since Sept. 4 on Wednesday night against Rays RHP Ryan Pepiot (8-6, 3.76 ERA). Houck has been slowed by right shoulder fatigue. Pepiot was pulled after two innings on Sept. 12 because his velocity was down.
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Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Jose Caballero forces Boston Red Sox's Wilyer Abreu (52) at second base ande relays the throw to first in time to turn a double play on Triston Casas during the fifth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays' Brandon Lowe, left, celebrates with Yandy Diaz after Lowe hit a two-run home run off Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Bailey Horn during the fifth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays' Yandy Diaz, left, celebrates after hitting a double off Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta during the fifth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Looking on is Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays' Jose Siri celebrates after hitting a solo home run off Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta during the fifth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta (37) grabs his shoulder after throwing a pitch to the Tampa Bay Rays during the fifth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Pivetta stayed in the game. Looking on is second baseman Ceddanne Rafaela. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays' Josh Lowe celebrates his solo home run off Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta during the fifth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe dives but can't get to a single by Boston Red Sox's Wilyer Abreu during the fifth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta reacts as Tampa Bay Rays' Junior Caminero runs around the bases following his solo home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays' Junior Caminero, right, celebrates his solo home run off Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta with third base coach Brady Williams during the fourth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Boston Red Sox's Masataka Yoshida, of Japan, fouls off a pitch during the second inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta delivers to the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays' Shane Baz pitches to the Boston Red Sox during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
