11 June 2019, Sataua, Savaii Samoa. Nurses at Sataua District Hospital confirm that their team had treated 68 passengers from a bus crash in Auala early yesterday morning.
Speaking to Samoa Global News from Sataua, an on-duty nurse testified that there was a calming peace surrounding them, as they felt the hand of the Lord helping their medical response units.
“Our team on night duty experienced an unusual sign like a warning the night before, with an episode of thunder and lightning at around 1am. The lights of the hospital kept going on and off;
“And like the whispering of God was with our medical team, by 7am yesterday, all 9 of our staff were at work for the changeover of shifts;
“And then it happened. The trucks, picks-ups and private vehicles carrying the students started to arrive;
“The drivers and people who brought the students were very calm, no-one was in panic mode like we are used to seeing, and our team just went to work as if we had known to expect something yesterday morning,” shared the on-duty nurse from Sataua hospital.
“Sa pei se vavega, ma sa lagona lava le filemu o Le Alii;
“O e sa la’uina mai le fanau, e leai lava ma se isi sa faavevesi mai ia matou, e pei o le mea e masani ai.”
There were only 5 adults amongst the passengers; the bus driver, 2 teachers and 2 adults on their way to work at Asau. The rest of the 63 passengers treated were students between the age of 14 and 17.
“E toa 68 lelei lava le pasese sa togafitiina, e toalua tagata matutua faigaluega i Asau, toalua faiaoga, ma le avepasi tagata matutua, ae o le fanau uma lava i le va o le 14 ma le 17 tausaga le matutua; toatele mai Neiafu ma Tufutafoe.”
The on-duty nurse said that by God’s grace, there were no serious injuries amongst the passengers treated.
“But thank the Lord, none of the passengers had any serious injuries,”
“Ae faafetai i Le Alii, e leai lava se isi sa tuga tele ni manu’aga,”
“We treated and dispatched 28 patients to Tuasivi hospital for x-rays, and we have two more here that will go to Tuasivi today for x-rays, but they are all fractures; there were no serious broken bone injuries or lost limbs (sei tulou) like we see in serious accidents;
“Most of the students had lacerations, cuts and bruises,” she added.
A video posted on social media by a Ata Sinaijoma Iose claims that a student by the name of ‘Easter’ suffered serious injuries feared fighting for her life – “e ku lua lava le oki ma le ola”, referring to serious eye and head injuries.
The medical team at Sataua have confirmed that they treated no such patient.
“E leai ni manu’aga tuga faapena sa matou molimauina.”
Asked about resourcing the nurse said that they called in reinforcements from Foailalo and Tuasivi District Hospitals, and that a bus from the Ministry of Education and a Red Cross ambulance helped to transfer students to Tuasivi.
“Foailalo sent 5 nurses, and at around 11am, 2 doctors and 2 nurses joined us from Tuasivi Hospital”.
The bus driver Liu Uesili from Foailuga told police that the breaks of the bus had failed. Eye witnesses are claiming that he bus was speeding.
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