The driver who is alleged to have caused a major crash in Kavera on Sunday night has been charged and is expected to appear at the Criminal Court in Avarua today.

The accused is charged with two counts of failing to stop, ascertain and render assistance in a crash causing injury and driving under the influence of alcohol.

Cook Islands Police media and strategic advisor Trevor Pitt explained that the accused was the driver of the car that collided with a blue car, which subsequently collided with a bus in Kavera.

Pitt said the driver was arrested on Tuesday and remanded into prison.

He said that the accused left the scene of the bus crash with two cars, and he is the offending driver of the car that struck the blue car.

It is alleged that he drove onto the main road, crashing into another car heading towards Titikaveka, which then smashed into a bus carrying a church youth group returning from a rally in Titikaveka.

According to witnesses at the scene, the driver of the car heading towards Titikaveka sustained minor injuries and was transported to the hospital.

The driver of the car that drove onto the road was believed to be under the influence of alcohol and hostile. The passengers on the bus were visibly shocked and had to be consoled by their elders.

Police arrived at the scene about 20 minutes after the initial call was placed, just after 7pm. At the time of the call, ambulance services were occupied with another incident. The section of the main road where the crash occurred was blocked for over two hours, and traffic was redirected to the back road.

George George, the granddad of 12-year-old Aviarna, who was on the bus returning from a youth rally that night, described the crash as shocking.

“I got to say, praise the Lord, no one died, really. I was right behind (driving), I saw the whole thing, and it was like a stunt movie,” George told Cook Islands News on Monday.

“And I was horrified to see that … my granddaughter was in the bus, and that’s why we were following it, and seeing that (crash), I couldn’t believe that no one suffered from that impact of the crash.

“It was unbelievable. And I guess for someone that’s seen it first-hand, and then knowing that my granddaughter’s in the bus, I would say it would have ripped my heart out, if anything worse had happened to my granddaughter, along with all her friends on the bus as well.”