Six children rescued after bus crash
Six children were rescued after their school bus crashed and toppled into a water-filled ditch.
Video footage showed the double-decker vehicle veer off the road and onto a grass verge before falling onto its side.
The pupils were evacuated and are not thought to be injured, police said. The driver was taken to hospital having suffered “minor injuries”.
Emergency crews were called to Leverington Common near Wisbech St Mary, Cambridgeshire[1], at 5.15pm on Thursday evening.
Laurence Manning, who witnessed the incident, said he helped the children off the bus after he heard them screaming.
“We pulled each school kid out one by one and then we tended to the driver who was still in the cab,” he said. “The roof was caved in. As we’re in the bus we could hear creaks and cracks because it was sinking even more.
“We had to check the bus several times, it was quite scary. But when there are kids involved you just have to get them to safety.
“Luckily everyone was alright – [a] few injuries but nothing serious.”
Katie-Leigh Julian, a neighbour, said she looked after the children once they had been rescued.
“The experience was not nice at all when it comes down to anyone, but when it’s children around and there’s no parents around it is heartbreaking,” she told BBC News.
Cambridgeshire Constabulary said its officers had attended the scene with firefighters and paramedics after reports a school bus had “overturned into a water-filled ditch”.
A spokesman said: “The driver of the bus is believed to have minor injuries and will be taken to hospital as a precaution.
“There were six school children on board, but they have now been rescued from the bus and are not thought to be injured.”
This incident comes after a separate school bus was involved in a crash with a HGV on Wednesday morning[2] in Leicestershire, where 10 of the 16 passengers injured had to be rushed to hospital.
References
- ^ Cambridgeshire (www.telegraph.co.uk)
- ^ a separate school bus was involved in a crash with a HGV on Wednesday morning (www.telegraph.co.uk)