Four killed as council minibus ploughs into back of lorry

The accident happened at Creswell, near Clowne, Derbyshire, after the lorry hit a railway bridge on the A616 Sheffield road.

Derbyshire County Council said the vehicle was carrying social services department staff and people with learning difficulties and described the accident as a ''terrible tragedy''.

It is believed that the lorry may have collided with a bridge support or become stuck under it.

Meanwhile, two people were killed and two injured on the M62.

Five of the injured from the A616 accident were taken to nearby Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Royal Hospital.

A hospital spokesman said the five were all men travelling in the minibus and were being treated for minor injuries and shock.

The youngest is in his late twenties and the oldest in his fifties.

Five other injured were taken to the Bassetlaw District General Hospital in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. A spokes-man there said four people with disabilities and a care assistant were ''stable'' with ''serious but not life-threatening'' injuries.

A county council spokesman said he did not know how many people with learning difficulties or carers were aboard the vehicle.

The lorry driver is believed to have escaped injury, Derbyshire Police said.

A car and two articulated lorries were involved in the pile-up in which two people died on the west-bound carriageway of the Trans-Pennine motorway at Milnrow near Rochdale.

Fire crews and paramedics fought for two hours to release one of the victims from the wreckage, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Two people were treated at hospital in nearby Rochdale for minor injuries.