Unaccompanied learner driver dies in crash
An unaccompanied learner driver is dead and five people are injured after a car hit a bus in Northern NSW.
The driver, believed to be a 19-year-old man from Uralla, was travelling south when his car collided with a northbound bus at Kentucky, south of Armidale.
The bus slid 200 metres before rolling onto its side and landing on the outside edge of the New England Highway about 1.30am on Saturday.
The learner driver died at the scene and five people in the bus, which was carrying eight passengers, were injured.
When police arrived on the scene they helped six passengers escape the wreckage through the bus' emergency exit before freeing the driver and remaining two passengers.
The bus driver, aged 50, was injured but not taken to hospital.
Four passengers, including a 29-year-old from Tamworth and 68-year-old from Queensland, were rushed to Armidale Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The highway remains closed and is not expected to reopen until noon.
