Two Irish women were among 10 people injured when a bus collided head-on with a four-wheeldrive vehicle in northern Australia early yesterday, killing two men.
The women, aged 20 and 21, were from Limerick and Tipperary. They suffered bruising and abrasions but were later released from hospital in Ayr, 620 miles north of Brisbane in Queensland.
A British man and a Japanese tourist who died were on the bus, which was carrying 12 backpackers. The British man was named as Mr Jason Walsh (28), of Cornwall. Mr Walsh, who was spending a year in Australia with his girlfriend, died instantly.
A spokeswoman for Brisbane police said the Irish women were "lucky to be alive". She said the bus turned on to the Bruce Highway and the vehicles collided.
Six of the more seriously injured were taken to Townsville hospital, mostly with broken bones. The rest of the injured, suffering mainly from bruises, were sent to a hospital in Ayr.
A young New Zealand woman who escaped from the wreckage told police she was one of the 70 survivors of the hostel fire in Childers, Queensland, in which 15 backpackers perished in June.
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