A bus carrying 26 passengers slid off the road on its way to Aoraki/Mount Cook Village in heavy snow on Saturday afternoon.
Police said they were called to State Highway 8 – Mount Cook Road – at 12.40pm.
There were no injuries but the bus could not be towed and alternative transport was arranged for the passengers.
A police spokesperson said the bus was driven on to a closed road in the snowy conditions. Waka Kotahi said members of the army were called in to ferry the passengers from the stranded bus.
It said the road had been closed nearly an hour earlier but the bus may have got in before gates could be shut.
Conditions were so difficult that a snow plow was also stranded for a brief period, it said.
Police and WorkSafe were looking into the incident and how the bus came to be travelling on a closed road in the dangerous conditions.
This morning, a worker at the Aoraki/Mount Cook visitor centre said staff were kept busy uncovering cars and clearing the nearly 60cm of snow that accumulated overnight.
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