Dream wedding day turns to tragedy

Dream wedding day turns to tragedy

Mitchell Gaffney and Maddy Edsell selected the gorgeous Wandin Estate because the venue for his or her marriage ceremony day.

It’s a magical and tranquil setting within the Hunter Valley, with stands of eucalyptus timber dotted across the winery and property.

Photos of the marriage, seen by 9news.com.au, present Gaffney and Edsell’s marriage ceremony unfolding on an ideal winter’s day, infinite blue skies overhead and never a single cloud to be seen.

Mitchell Gaffney and Maddy Edsell were celebrating with friends and family at the Wandin Valley estate
Mitchell Gaffney and Maddy Edsell had been celebrating with family and friends on the Wandin Estate vineyard. (Supplied)

There are pictures of Gaffney and Edsell chopping right into a three-layer cake, and one other considered one of Edsell driving a convertible VW Beetle throughout the grass of the property.

She is beaming. And she waves to her household and buddies with one hand.

Seven self-contained villas enable some visitors to remain on Wandin Estate, whereas others who attend weddings on the venue head off and journey to their houses or different lodging within the space.

The giant white bus that carried dozens of visitors away from Gaffney and Edsell’s marriage ceremony by no means made it to its vacation spot.

Ten individuals are useless and greater than 20 in hospital, together with one particular person in a crucial situation.

The 58-year-old driver has been arrested. Charges are anticipated.

Police imagine the bus was heading to Singleton, a highway journey that will usually take round 35 minutes.

Singleton, a city of 16,000 individuals located on the banks of the Hunter River, is believed to be residence for a lot of visitors on the marriage ceremony, together with the newlyweds.

Gaffney and Edsell each performed for the Singleton Roosters Australian Rules soccer workforce.

Gaffney had joined the membership after transferring north from Melbourne, town the place he and Edsell had grown up, it is believed.

Guests on the marriage ceremony additionally included gamers from Warrandyte Cricket Club in Melbourne, the place Gaffney used to play.

Gaffney and Edsell had been Warrandyte locals, a suburb within the north-east of Melbourne, till they moved to NSW a number of years in the past.

Warrandyte Cricket Club president Royce Jaksic advised The Sydney Morning Herald there have been as much as 9 present gamers and their companions on the bus on the time of the crash.

Jaksic stated some marriage ceremony visitors had suffered “some minor injuries – a broken jaw, a broken collarbone, things like that”.

“But you know, compared to the 10 people that have tragically lost their lives, I think we’ve been blessed in this one,” he stated.

“If you do the math, they’ve been extremely lucky. We’ve just got fingers and toes crossed that no-one else loses their lives.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was simply considered one of many public figures who expressed their sympathies to the sufferer’s family members.

“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,” Albanese stated.

“People hire a bus for weddings in order to keep their guests safe, and that just adds to the unimaginable nature of this tragedy.”

Albanese described the crash, and the deep scars it would go away behind, as “horrific”, whereas Premier Chris Minns known as it “a terrible, terrible event in the history of New South Wales”.

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Source: www.9news.com.au