25/03/10

Three dead in Cumbria school bus crash

Release to: Coach Journals
Date: May 2010
Title: Three dead in Cumbria school bus crash

 

A girl, a boy and a male car driver died after a school bus overturned on one of Cumbria’s busiest roads. Four more children were critically ill last night.

Another 35 were also injured when the coach, carrying pupils from Keswick School, was in a collision with a Honda Civic on the A66 near Braithwaite, between Keswick and Cockermouth, shortly before 4pm.

The driver of a second coach said he had had to brake hard to avoid hitting the 49-seater bus.

Emergency services worked into the night to free children trapped in the wreckage of the coach, which was run by JB Pickthall, based in Frizington, Cumbria. Air ambulances took the injured to hospital. Most are believed to be pupils between the ages of 11 and 16.

Officers blocked off the road to allow access to fire crews and ambulance services. Mountain rescue teams also attended the scene.

Gareth Davies, 44, who runs a campsite in Braithwaite, said his wife, Helen, was one of the first on the scene. “My wife was walking down from Braithwaite primary school with our children and heard a massive crash and bang, followed by cries and screams. The coach flipped over on its side. There was masses of smoke. She said the scene was absolutely horrendous. She contacted a friend who is a doctor and lives near by, who went to help.”

Eric Alldritt, 73, said: “The road is only two lanes, one in each direction, and that section is very straight so you do get a lot of people trying to overtake. The A66 is a notorious road and the police are regularly called to incidents on that stretch.”

A casualty bureau was set up for concerned parents while the seriously injured were airlifted to hospitals at Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Preston. Those with less serious injuries were taken to West Cumberland and Cumberland Infirmary. Children who were not hurt were cared for at a primary school. Billy Morris, who was delivering an excavator to Sellafield, said it was obvious that something serious had taken place. Two fire engines sped past their stranded vehicle, followed swiftly by the first of six helicopters.

He said: “We saw some children walk from the bus down the road. They had cuts and bruises and they looked very upset. People were getting out of their cars to see what had happened. When they came back they looked ashen, extremely shocked.

“One woman was crying. People from nearby houses came with blankets for the victims. As they walked away you could see from their faces they had seen something terrible.”

Christine Sheppard, who runs a guest house close to the crash site, saw a tent being erected. “I knew that could only mean one thing,” she said.

Keswick School is a voluntary-aided, co-educational school for children of secondary-school age. There were emotional scenes as parents arrived at the school to collect their children. Many were in tears. One sixth-former, who arrived at the scene to help, said: “I have heard the bus was quite full, but some older kids are on study leave for A levels and GCSEs. It is just horrendous. The bus was on its way to Whitehaven, dropping kids off along the way on the run home. From what others have said I think it was the younger ones were more seriously injured.”

Dorothy Roper, 78, whose granddaughter Grace, 13, had got off the bus shortly before the accident, said that witnesses suggested the car had been left a “mangled wreck”.

“The bus was on its side. The emergency services were trying to get the rest of the children out because they were trapped. I heard that two schoolchildren are dead. It’s very upsetting.”

Greater North Air Ambulance scrambled two helicopters. A spokesman said: “One of our aircraft took a 13-year-old girl to Newcastle. She suffered very serious shoulder and arm injuries. A 15-year-old boy was taken from the scene. He was very seriously injured with chest, back and pelvis injuries.”

Source: The Times