Bus 'lost control overtaking'
Australians killed in Egypt bus crash:
* Senior Constable Kristy Olsen, Moe Police station
* Sergeant George Panayiotis, Melbourne police
* Mark Ritchie, from Bendigo
* Drew Ritchie, 14, from Bendigo
* Unnamed man, 68, from Balwyn, Melbourne
* Luciano Prenner, from Queensland
Grieving family, friends and colleagues of the six Australians killed in the Egyptian tour bus crash spoke of their sorrow today as possible causes of the tragedy, including driver fatigue, emerged.
A 14-year-old Victorian boy, Drew Ritchie of Wedderburn, north-west of Melbourne, and his father Mark Ritchie, a coordinator at nearby Bendigo Senior Secondary College, were among the dead.
Three other Victorians who perished as the bus rolled twice on the dangerous highway to Cairo were police officers, Senior Constable Kristy Olsen and Sergeant George Panayiotis, and an unnamed 68-year-old man from the Melbourne suburb of Balwyn.
A Queenslander, 56-year-old carpet layer Luciano Prenner from Brisbane, also died in the accident which left another 26 Australians injured, four of them critically.
The bus was one of two carrying holidaying police officers, emergency service workers and relatives from Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
The group was on a cultural tour led by the president of the Egyptian Federation of Victoria Stephen Seif and were returning from the historic WWII battlefield at El Alamein when tragedy struck.
Their bus may have been overtaking a second bus when it overturned on the desert road between Alexandria and Cairo, Victoria police chief commissioner Christine Nixon said today.
It was not clear if an oncoming car was in the area in the seconds before the crash, Ms Nixon said.
"The cause of the crash is still to be determined," she said.
"The police are investigating in Egypt but it appears from a well-informed source that the buses were returning late from an outing which had started early in the morning.
"The weather was bad, raining, and it looks like one of the buses has overtaken the other and then the driver has lost control, but that will be investigated by local authorities.
Driver fatigue could have been a factor in the crash, the police chief said.
It is understood the bus driver is assisting police in Cairo with their investigation.
"We've certainly had some people suggest to us that that (fatigue) might be a cause, that sometimes on this tour that people start at five in the morning and this was now 11 o'clock at night (local time), so it may well have contributed," she said.
Bruce Billson, parliamentary secretary to Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, said Australian witnesses had said the accident seemed fatigue-related.
"Victorian police officers on the second bus have spoken with our ambassador and their view ... is that it may simply have been a matter of driver fatigue on a difficult greasy road," he told ABC radio.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) officials in Cairo will hold a press conference later tonight (8.30pm AEDT) on the conditions of the injured Australians, which include 15 from Victoria, six from Queensland, four from NSW and one from the NT.
Mr Billson said grave concerns were held for at least one of the four critically injured.
She is so badly hurt that she cannot be moved from the lesser equipped Al Haram hospital to the larger Dar El Fouad hospital where the other Australians are being treated.
"There's one individual we're gravely concerned about is very, very ill in hospital," he said.
Prime Minister John Howard today described the crash as a heart-breaking tragedy.
"I send on behalf of the government and myself and my colleagues our heartfelt sympathies to those who have lost loved ones," he said.
Other senior Victorian officers recalled the dedication to duty of their fallen colleagues: 34-year-old Senior Constable and mother Kristy Olsen, a schools resource officer at Moe, in the state's east and Sergeant George Panayiotis, 48, an expert speed detection device technician.
Sen-Const Olsen's supervisor, Latrobe region Chief Inspector Ron Cooke, said she would be missed by the Moe community where she had worked for more than seven years.
"Not only have we got the immediate police environment of Moe but we've the extended local community and the extended community of other services such as DHS who are very much affected by Kristy's death," Insp Cooke said.
Sgt Panayiotis was a 20-year veteran of the radio and electronics branch and a keen fisherman, his group manager, Colin Oates said today.
"He trained many thousands of police members in the use of those devices, provided his expertise to the way we use those technologies both in vehicles and on the road," Mr Oates said.
"He'll be sadly missed for both his professionalism in that regard - he was very passionate and dedicated to that role - but he will be sadly missed for the fun things he did."
In Bendigo, police Sergeant Frank Peiffer said he knew the Ritchie family well as did the small community of Wedderburn.
"The Ritchie family are a significant family in that community, Mark was a junior football coach for a number of years," Sgt Peiffer said.
"Mark Ritchie was an historian of sorts and Drew, his 14-year-old son, was just absolutely fascinated by Egypt and all things archeological."
Seven Victorian MPs, including Upper House president Monica Gould, were on the same tour but were not involved in the accident because they had remained behind in Cairo.
Two senior Victorian police officers were on their way to Egypt today to offer on-the-ground support to Victorians involved in the crash.
DFAT officials are providing support to family members and ensure appropriate medical treatment for the injured.
Politicians escape accident
Seven Victorian politicians on the tour escaped the accident. One of them, President of the Legislative Council Monica Gould, who was on tour in Egypt with her daughter, said the politicians have held a minute's silence for the victims.
"I drove that road to El Alamein and Alexandria on Friday of last week," she said. "It's all done by convoy ... it's a four-lane highway, the road is in very good condition."
Serious concerns for woman
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said one woman was so badly injured she could not be moved from the hospital where she was initially taken after the crash.
"There is one woman of whom we have serious concerns," Mr Downer told the Nine Network.
"There are several [Australians] who have been critically injured, and there is one of whom we have serious concerns and her situation is very bad."
Mr Downer said some of the tour group had already left Egypt for Australia.
Blood and flesh at the scene
Patches of blood and bits of human flesh littered the ground today alongside window panes and tennis shoes, hours after the bus rolled.
The bus lay on its side by the highway, its roof peeled away like a sardine can by rescue workers to pull out the victims.
Nearby, a lamppost was crumpled and uprooted after being hit by the careening vehicle.
"Everybody tried to help the injured people. We put blankets around those who were cold. We tried to get them out of the rain," Canadian nuclear scientist Yang Albeit, 65, who was on the second bus with his son, told The Associated Press.
The tour group had had "such a great day", said Mr Albeit as he visited the injured at Dar al-Fouad hospital on the outskirts of Cairo, where most of the wounded were taken.
He recalled having a meal earlier with one of the men, who died.
"It's very sad."
Mohammed Moussa, a 35-year-old travel agent who was on the second bus, dismissed suggestions that the bus swerved to avoid a car that was overtaking in a dangerous fashion.
"It was because of the rain, not because of another vehicle. This is ***'s destiny," he told AP. "There was heavy rain and the driver lost control because he tried to break too hard."
He said the group planned to continue its visit to Egypt and was expected to travel to the southern city of Aswan.
- AAP with input from Edmund Tadros
Australians killed in Egypt bus crash:
* Senior Constable Kristy Olsen, Moe Police station
* Sergeant George Panayiotis, Melbourne police
* Mark Ritchie, from Bendigo
* Drew Ritchie, 14, from Bendigo
* Unnamed man, 68, from Balwyn, Melbourne
* Luciano Prenner, from Queensland
Grieving family, friends and colleagues of the six Australians killed in the Egyptian tour bus crash spoke of their sorrow today as possible causes of the tragedy, including driver fatigue, emerged.
A 14-year-old Victorian boy, Drew Ritchie of Wedderburn, north-west of Melbourne, and his father Mark Ritchie, a coordinator at nearby Bendigo Senior Secondary College, were among the dead.
Three other Victorians who perished as the bus rolled twice on the dangerous highway to Cairo were police officers, Senior Constable Kristy Olsen and Sergeant George Panayiotis, and an unnamed 68-year-old man from the Melbourne suburb of Balwyn.
A Queenslander, 56-year-old carpet layer Luciano Prenner from Brisbane, also died in the accident which left another 26 Australians injured, four of them critically.
The bus was one of two carrying holidaying police officers, emergency service workers and relatives from Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
The group was on a cultural tour led by the president of the Egyptian Federation of Victoria Stephen Seif and were returning from the historic WWII battlefield at El Alamein when tragedy struck.
Their bus may have been overtaking a second bus when it overturned on the desert road between Alexandria and Cairo, Victoria police chief commissioner Christine Nixon said today.
It was not clear if an oncoming car was in the area in the seconds before the crash, Ms Nixon said.
"The cause of the crash is still to be determined," she said.
"The police are investigating in Egypt but it appears from a well-informed source that the buses were returning late from an outing which had started early in the morning.
"The weather was bad, raining, and it looks like one of the buses has overtaken the other and then the driver has lost control, but that will be investigated by local authorities.
Driver fatigue could have been a factor in the crash, the police chief said.
It is understood the bus driver is assisting police in Cairo with their investigation.
"We've certainly had some people suggest to us that that (fatigue) might be a cause, that sometimes on this tour that people start at five in the morning and this was now 11 o'clock at night (local time), so it may well have contributed," she said.
Bruce Billson, parliamentary secretary to Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, said Australian witnesses had said the accident seemed fatigue-related.
"Victorian police officers on the second bus have spoken with our ambassador and their view ... is that it may simply have been a matter of driver fatigue on a difficult greasy road," he told ABC radio.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) officials in Cairo will hold a press conference later tonight (8.30pm AEDT) on the conditions of the injured Australians, which include 15 from Victoria, six from Queensland, four from NSW and one from the NT.
Mr Billson said grave concerns were held for at least one of the four critically injured.
She is so badly hurt that she cannot be moved from the lesser equipped Al Haram hospital to the larger Dar El Fouad hospital where the other Australians are being treated.
"There's one individual we're gravely concerned about is very, very ill in hospital," he said.
Prime Minister John Howard today described the crash as a heart-breaking tragedy.
"I send on behalf of the government and myself and my colleagues our heartfelt sympathies to those who have lost loved ones," he said.
Other senior Victorian officers recalled the dedication to duty of their fallen colleagues: 34-year-old Senior Constable and mother Kristy Olsen, a schools resource officer at Moe, in the state's east and Sergeant George Panayiotis, 48, an expert speed detection device technician.
Sen-Const Olsen's supervisor, Latrobe region Chief Inspector Ron Cooke, said she would be missed by the Moe community where she had worked for more than seven years.
"Not only have we got the immediate police environment of Moe but we've the extended local community and the extended community of other services such as DHS who are very much affected by Kristy's death," Insp Cooke said.
Sgt Panayiotis was a 20-year veteran of the radio and electronics branch and a keen fisherman, his group manager, Colin Oates said today.
"He trained many thousands of police members in the use of those devices, provided his expertise to the way we use those technologies both in vehicles and on the road," Mr Oates said.
"He'll be sadly missed for both his professionalism in that regard - he was very passionate and dedicated to that role - but he will be sadly missed for the fun things he did."
In Bendigo, police Sergeant Frank Peiffer said he knew the Ritchie family well as did the small community of Wedderburn.
"The Ritchie family are a significant family in that community, Mark was a junior football coach for a number of years," Sgt Peiffer said.
"Mark Ritchie was an historian of sorts and Drew, his 14-year-old son, was just absolutely fascinated by Egypt and all things archeological."
Seven Victorian MPs, including Upper House president Monica Gould, were on the same tour but were not involved in the accident because they had remained behind in Cairo.
Two senior Victorian police officers were on their way to Egypt today to offer on-the-ground support to Victorians involved in the crash.
DFAT officials are providing support to family members and ensure appropriate medical treatment for the injured.
Politicians escape accident
Seven Victorian politicians on the tour escaped the accident. One of them, President of the Legislative Council Monica Gould, who was on tour in Egypt with her daughter, said the politicians have held a minute's silence for the victims.
"I drove that road to El Alamein and Alexandria on Friday of last week," she said. "It's all done by convoy ... it's a four-lane highway, the road is in very good condition."
Serious concerns for woman
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said one woman was so badly injured she could not be moved from the hospital where she was initially taken after the crash.
"There is one woman of whom we have serious concerns," Mr Downer told the Nine Network.
"There are several [Australians] who have been critically injured, and there is one of whom we have serious concerns and her situation is very bad."
Mr Downer said some of the tour group had already left Egypt for Australia.
Blood and flesh at the scene
Patches of blood and bits of human flesh littered the ground today alongside window panes and tennis shoes, hours after the bus rolled.
The bus lay on its side by the highway, its roof peeled away like a sardine can by rescue workers to pull out the victims.
Nearby, a lamppost was crumpled and uprooted after being hit by the careening vehicle.
"Everybody tried to help the injured people. We put blankets around those who were cold. We tried to get them out of the rain," Canadian nuclear scientist Yang Albeit, 65, who was on the second bus with his son, told The Associated Press.
The tour group had had "such a great day", said Mr Albeit as he visited the injured at Dar al-Fouad hospital on the outskirts of Cairo, where most of the wounded were taken.
He recalled having a meal earlier with one of the men, who died.
"It's very sad."
Mohammed Moussa, a 35-year-old travel agent who was on the second bus, dismissed suggestions that the bus swerved to avoid a car that was overtaking in a dangerous fashion.
"It was because of the rain, not because of another vehicle. This is ***'s destiny," he told AP. "There was heavy rain and the driver lost control because he tried to break too hard."
He said the group planned to continue its visit to Egypt and was expected to travel to the southern city of Aswan.
- AAP with input from Edmund Tadros
