Woman dies and 13 hurt in bus crash

A woman died and 13 more were injured after a car collided head-on with a double-decker bus on the A47 at Thorney Toll, near Peterborough, yesterday morning.

The First Eastern Counties bus, on the X1 route from Great Yarmouth to Peterborough, was in collision with the car travelling in the opposite direction and came to rest in a ditch on the side of the road.

The woman driving the car died and three more people were seriously injured. Emergency services were called to the scene at 11.09am and the road was closed in both directions from the Eye roundabout to the Guyhirn roundabout.

Firefighters worked to free the passengers from the wreckage and everyone had been rescued by 1.15pm.

Martin Boome, incident commander at Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue, said the passengers were freed by unbolting seats and removing a window on the bus. “The bus left the road and landed face down in the ditch, which meant that the casualties inside had difficulty escaping from the vehicle,” he said. “One of the casualties had to be lifted out by crews on a spinal board.”

Adrienne Watts, from the East of England Ambulance Service, said a woman had been taken by air ambulance to Addenbrooke's Hospital with a fractured pelvis. “This was a well attended incident, with fire and police on the scene, six ambulances, both air ambulances and two senior officers,” she said.

“Six walking wounded with various injuries were taken to Peterborough Hospital and a further person 'collared and boarded' with a suspected back and neck injury.”

Five more patients were treated at the scene but not taken to hospital.

Gussy Alamein, spokesman for bus company First, said: “There has been an incident involving a car and one of our X1 buses and we are working with the police in their investigations.

“We would like to offer our deepest sympathies to the family of the car driver who tragically died in this incident.”

He said the driver of the bus had cuts and bruises but was not in a serious condition. The bus had left Great Yarmouth at 7.05am and King's Lynn at 10.15am.

Buses that usually stop at Thorney Toll were diverted through Thorney to avoid further delays and the A47 was due to reopen yesterday evening.

>Police are asking anyone who saw the crash, or either vehicle leading up to the crash, to contact Sgt Williams at the Road Policing Unit on 0845 456 456 4.