Three killed in A66 school coach crash

Two children and a car driver died after a school bus overturned on one of Cumbria’s busiest roads. Four more children were critically ill tonight.

Another 35 were also injured when the coach dropping off pupils from Keswick School hit a Honda Civic head-on 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 school bus.

Emergency services worked into the evening to free children trapped in the wreckage. A total of five air ambulances took the injured to hospital. Police said that the accident happened when the 49-seater coach collided with the grey Honda. Officers blocked off the road to allow access to fire crews and ambulance services. A total of five BASICS doctors and the local Mountain rescue teams also attended the scene.

It is understood that the coach, which is run by JB Pickthall, based in Frizington, Cumbria, overturned trapping passengers.

A casualty bureau was set up for concerned parents as the seriously injured were airlifted to Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Preston. The less serious, suffering from minor cuts to fractures and spinal injuries, were taken to West Cumberland and Cumberland Infirmary, and Keswick Cottage Hospital. Children with less serious injuries were transferred to Braithwaite primary school where their injuries were treated by two BASICS doctors, a local GP, off duty paramedics and local Voluntary Aid Society members. There were emotional scenes as parents arrived at the school to collect their children, with many in tears.

Keswick School is a voluntary-aided, co-educational school for children of high school age. It prides itself on traditional standards and values.

Dr Vic Calland, Honorary Treasurer of BASICS, who helped treat the 53 children at the Primary School said "I was very impressed with the way these young individuals behaved. The vogue is to criticize the youth of today but these kids were examples of the best of our society"

Greater North Air Ambulance scrambled two helicopters to the scene, one from Teesside and another from Cumbria. Two Sea Kings were deployed by the RAF. A spokesman for Great North said: “One of our aircraft took a 13-year-old girl from the crash 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. They have been taken to two separate centres.”