Bride and groom cut into their wedding cake just hours before their big day ends in tragedy – as 10 guests are killed and 25 injured in Australia’s worst road crash
Guests and vendors shared photographs of a ‘beautiful’ young couple celebrating their nuptials hours before a horror bus crash on the way home from the wedding which killed 10 people (Hunter valley wedding crash).
Madeleine Edsell and Mitchell Gaffney tied the knot at Wandin Valley Estate in the Hunter Valley on Sunday afternoon.
Just hours later, 10 of their guests were tragically killed when the shuttle bus they were travelling in rolled on Wine Country Drive in Greta, 12km away, on the way home from the wedding. A further 21 people remain in hospitals across the state for treatment.
One patient is in a critical condition, while the remainder are stable, NSW Premier Chris Minns said. ‘Today is a day to hug someone you love, and to remember how precious life is,’ he said.
The couple were married out on the pontoon overlooking a lake as the sun shone down, before all the guests gathered for a group photo in the gardens.
It’s understood their emcee, local reporter Alex Tigani, is among the injured currently recovering at John Hunter Hospital.
Photos from inside the reception show the newlyweds cutting into their cake as a live band plays in the background and Mr Tigani speaks to the crowd.
The bride arrived at the ceremony in a restored 1952 Beetle convertible, which her dad had been working on to have it ready in time for the wedding.
It is feared more may be dead and still trapped under the wreckage as the salvage operation continues. Police said no children were on board.
Several other passengers were able to free themselves at the time of the crash and seek help.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese issued a statement from Parliament House on Monday morning, describing the tragedy as ‘so cruel and unfair’.
‘All of us know the joy of going to a wedding, a chance to celebrate dear friends and family. They are some of the happiest times that you can have. For a joyous day like that in a beautiful place to end with such terrible loss of life and injury is so cruel and so sad and so unfair,’ he said.
‘People hire a bus for weddings in order to keep their guests safe and that just adds to the unimaginable nature of this tragedy.’
Locals from the ‘close knit community’ are among the victims, the region’s Federal MP Daniel Repacholi confirmed.