The minibus blog is horrified to hear how two children were seriously ill in hospital after a minibus swerved off the road and crashed into the youngsters as they were leaving school.
The accident happened outside the English Martyrs School, in Hartlepool, at about 3.30pm yesterday – as dozens of children were heading home for the day.
A Mercedes bus carrying 20 children from the school, which was in collision with a Renault Scenic car, mounted the footpath in Catcote Road, and crashed into a wire fence, leaving its nose embedded in a tree.
Witnesses described how the bus had swerved to avoid hitting a boy who had run into the road.
Pupils were trapped screaming under the wheels as smoke began to pour from the vehicle.
Emergency services quickly declared the crash as a “major incident”. They said at least 22 people had been injured and received hospital treatment, most of whom had been on foot and not in the bus.
An air ambulance and the police helicopter flew the most seriously injured to Middlesbrough’s James Cook University Hospital.
Police, who cordoned off the scene, said two children were poorly but stable last night at the James Cook hospital. They were two 12-year-old boys, both pupils at English Martyrs.
Two other children were said to be comfortable at the University Hospital of North Tees, in Stockton.
All the other casualties, who were taken to hospitals in Stockton and Hartlepool, were released after treatment.
A spokesman for the North-East Ambulance Service said: “At 3.38pm we received a 999 call to Catcote Road, in Hartlepool, for a road accident involving a bus, where a number of people were reported trapped under the vehicle.
“In total, six ambulances, one rapid response unit, an air ambulance, along with the police helicopter and two ambulance officers, attended the accident.
“Eight casualties with cuts, bumps and bruises were taken to Hartlepool Hospital.
“Two casualties with serious injuries were airlifted by both helicopters to James Cook and a further ten were taken to North Tees General Hospital, in Stockton, including two people with serious head and neck injuries.
“The rest have neck, leg and other injuries – broken bones and soft tissue injuries.”
The driver of the bus, which is owned by Richardsons, was being questioned by police last night.
Witness Peter Murphy, 14, a year nine pupil at English Martyrs, who was standing yards from where the bus crashed, said one of his friends had been injured.
The GCSE pupil said: “I was standing by the road when I looked and saw the white minibus heading towards me.
“There was loads of other groups of kids, who had just left school, standing around too.
“Then one boy ran out into the road in front of the bus and the driver swerved to try to avoid him. It went off the road and crashed into the school fence, hitting a load of kids as it went.
“When it stopped, some of them were trapped under the wheels. People were screaming and running away.
“There was blood everywhere – it was horrible so I did not want to look. I turned away.
“One of my friends was taken to hospital. I do not know if he is badly hurt or not.”
Jodie Waller, 14, was on a bus travelling in front of the one that crashed. She said: “I was sitting forward on the bus and briefly looked round.
“I saw the white bus swerve suddenly and plough into the fence. Immediately, thick black smoke was billowing from it.
“I was the only one on the bus who saw it. I was just in total shock and could not speak.
“As our bus kept on driving, I was trying to point to alert people.
“Eventually, others saw what happened and were screaming ‘the bus has crashed, the bus has crashed’. Our bus just carried on and took me home to Hartlepool.
“I came back to see what had happened.”
English Martyrs headteacher Joe Hughes said: “Everyone is very concerned and very worried, and our thoughts are with the students in hospital.
“We will be praying through the night that the outcome is the best one.”
Mr Hughes said he believed there were 26 pupils on the bus, who are thought to be aged 12 and 13, and he understood the vehicle was fitted with seatbelts.
English Martyrs teacher Alex Price said staff at the school rushed to help those injured.
He said: “Some of the teachers have gone down to the scene of the accident.”
Another witness, a woman in her 30s who works for a local supermarket, said: “It has been total chaos. One minute it was a lovely summer afternoon, the next the road was full of helicopters, fire engines, ambulances and police cars.”
Sergeant Paul Dee, of Cleveland Police, said: “Police from the crash investigation unit are trying to establish what happened, but I am led to believe that a vast majority of the casualties were children walking on the pavement.
“Casualties were children from both the Martyrs School and nearby Catcote Road School.
“The driver of the bus has been questioned by police and given an account of what happened.”
A police spokeswoman confirmed the accident involved a minibus and a Renault Megane Scenic car.
She said: “A major incident was declared by the emergency services. Numerous ambulances were called to the scene and air ambulances also used a nearby rugby club as a landing zone.”
Jackie Gough, of Cleveland Fire Brigade, said: “Three of our vehicles attended the scene, along with 20 firefighters.
“I have been told that no cutting equipment was used.”
Bus company Richardson’s said it could not comment.
A Hartlepool Borough Council spokesman said: “It is a major incident and we are treating it as such.”
Father James Tuckwell, the priest in charge at St Patrick’s Catholic Church, which has strong links to the school, said: “This was a shocking, terrible thing to have happened.
“We are praying for the families and for the children.”
English Martyrs is a catholic voluntary aided comprehensive and incorporates a sixth-form centre.
It describes itself as a specialist arts college and has 1,480 pupils of both sexes, aged 11 to 19.
