A witness has described the horror of seeing a mother and her baby trapped underneath an Auckland tourist bus that rolled backwards down Victoria Street in the city's CBD today.
Florence Hill told 1 NEWS she was at the Coffee Club at around 1pm on the bustling road when she noticed the Soaring Kiwi Tours bus rolling backwards towards Queen Street.
She described the shock of seeing a mother and her baby trapped under the red tourist bus which she said was not carrying passengers.
"I ran out and ran down and I guess the concrete barrier to the pedestrians put the bus to a halt.
"I went behind and the lady was trapped underneath the back of the bus.
"We knew there was a baby somewhere, roughly about 18 months to two years old. There was a baby crying underneath the bus."
Ms Hill said the baby girl then crawled underneath the bus, emerging from the front to then be rescued by a nearby worker.
"I don't know how it happened but she ended up crawling out of the front of the bus.
Onlookers rushed to the help on Victoria Street West as screams rang out.
"It was was a mum and daughter but the mother was trapped," she said.
"She was just in relief. She called out and one of the guys, a workman picked up the baby."
Ms Hill said she saw the driver of the bus running after it as it rolled down the hill.
"He wasn't in the bus, that's for sure," she said.
Police say three people have sustained minor injuries in the incident.
Witnesses say the sightseeing bus rolled backwards down Victoria Street.
Mark Gilbert, the owner of Soaring Kiwi Tours, the company involved in the incident, told 1 NEWS in a statement, "We are fully supporting the police in their investigation and our current priority is supporting the members of the public that were hurt in the incident and supporting our team.
Further details will be released when they are made available in the days ahead, Mr Gilbert said.
Cordons are in place at the intersection where the accident occurred.
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