An Arriva bus that crashed into another waiting in Valletta last month, injuring a Chinese woman, was unmanned, witnesses have confirmed.

People could have died

Xiuying Gao, 48, was hurt when a bus mounted the pavement at the terminus and smashed into the bus she was sitting in, flinging her across the aisle. She was taken to hospital with injuries to her right side and released over six hours later.

Her husband, John Fenton, 75, who was seated next to her, said it happened so suddenly they barely knew what had struck them.

He returned to the bus terminus late last week and met station manager Frederick Gauci, who confirmed the careening vehicle had no passengers... and no driver.

“There are investigations currently under way to determine what happened,” Mr Gauci told Times of Malta this week.

Gerry Cowie, a passenger on the same bus as Ms Gao, corroborated Mr Gauci’s statement.

“Our bendy bus had only just started to inch forward when there was a loud bang. The bus shook and veered sideways and shattered glass flew everywhere,” he said.

“Another bendy bus, which appeared to have no driver, smashed into the side, pushing in and breaking a set of doors. It came out of the blue. I was later informed by an Australian man who was also aboard that the other bus involved had been driverless.”

Mr Cowie expressed his disappointment at how Arriva staff managed the incident and the lack of attention paid to the passengers.

“It’s unclear whether Arriva staff are trained for emergencies as they all seemed to have forgotten the fact the bus was full of passengers, all of whom were shaken to some degree, apart from the poor, injured woman.

“Lots of staff members got on the footboard and next to our driver but no attempt was made to open the other available doors.

“It was down to me to usher people to the back of the bus and release the doors using the emergency button.”

He added it was even more “shocking” that the incident happened in the first place.

“I would like to know what Arriva plans to do about this incident, which, once again, calls into question their ability to run the Maltese bus service. People could have died in that incident.”

Meanwhile, Ms Gao returned to hospital for a check-up as her pain persisted, despite completing the prescribed dose of painkillers.

Mr Fenton has engaged a lawyer to take steps that would eventually allow him to sue for compensation.

Questions sent to Arriva were unanswered at the time of writing.