A commercial bus driver who drove from Queenstown to Te Anau, before a serious bus crash on Thursday, says the road was not gritted, although it was icing over.
But the New Zealand Transport Agency said the road was gritted prior to the bus accident.
An 8-year-old boy hurt in the accident was in a stable condition in intensive care in Dunedin Hospital last night with abdominal injuries, and a 54-year-old man was in a critical condition with rib fractures and bruising to his lung and a 62-year-old woman with a fractured wrist remained in Southland Hospital.
The bus driver, who did not want to be identified, told the Otago Daily Times he was "slipping and sliding" when he navigated the road before 8am, the time the NZTA said rain caused black ice to form.
"I wouldn't like to drive that road like that ever again," he said, adding four other bus drivers could back his claims.
He said there was "no grit whatsoever" on the Queenstown side of Mossburn but the roads from Gorge Hill [near Red Tussock Reserve] were well-gritted.
"Once we got to the top of Gorge Hill we were fine, but there was nothing on this [Mossburn] side of Gorge Hill."
The driver said he was in Te Anau by 9am and would have passed through Mossburn before 7.30am.
At 9am, a Worldaway tourist bus carrying 30 passengers crashed on a slight bend 4km north of Mossburn.
Police have linked the accident to black ice.
NZTA Southland area manager Peter Robinson said on Thursday the section where the crash occurred had been gritted, and yesterday repeated this claim.
He said the roads were inspected at 6am and 7am and there were no obvious ice issues.
Yesterday, he said it was neither practical nor affordable for the agency to "have all roads ice-free and gritted around the clock" and appealed for drivers to exercise caution.
Gorge Hill was a "higher priority for gritting first".
"The warning signage and the contractor's staff at Mossburn clearly highlighted the issues."
He said two contracting companies gritted the roads before and after Gorge Hill.
The bus driver commiserated with the driver of the bus which crashed, saying the conditions and lack of grit made it almost impossible to safely navigate.
Senior Sergeant Cynthia Fairley, of Winton police, yesterday said police were awaiting expert reports before determining the cause of the crash.
