Open-top bus horror: Miracle escape for children thrown from top deck... into lucky heather

Screaming passengers were sent hurtling 30ft from the top deck of an open-top bus after it crashed into two other vehicles and rolled on to its side.

 

Several young children were among at least 20 holidaymakers pitched from their upstairs seats in the terrifying accident.

 

Most avoided serious injury, however, after making a soft landing in heather and bushes. The two most badly-hurt passengers had a broken shoulder and a fractured leg.

 

 

 

Miracle escape: Passengers were thrown from the top deck of the bus but luckily, they all landed on soft heather and none were seriously injured.

 

The Wilts and Dorset bus was just outside Studland, near Poole, when it crashed

 

The smash happened when the Wilts and Dorset bus packed full of tourists was approaching the chain ferry at Poole harbour, Dorset, at 10.14am this morning.

 

It was leaving the village of Studland when it is thought to have crashed into a black Porsche turbo and a red Volkswagen Golf which had collided on a sharp bend.

 

Police arrested the driver of the Porsche, a 43-year-old man from Wimborne, at the scene on suspicion of dangerous driving.

 

 

The driver was negotiating a bend when the collision with the Porsche sent the bus hurtling through undergrowth

 

He was driving away from the chain ferry which links Studland with the exclusive Sandbanks peninsula when his sports car crashed head-on with the bus and the Golf.

 

The family of four in the Golf were all airlifted to Dorset County Hospital for treatment for minor injuries.

 

 

Smash: The bus careered off the road and into a ditch after colliding with a Porshe and a Golf that had crashed on a sharp bend

 

The 15-ton bus rolled onto its side and ended up in a hedge on the edge of heathland after the accident.

 

The impact sent passengers flying out of the top deck and left children's inflatable beach toys scattered on the grass.

 

A coastguard helicopter was scrambled to the scene and flew eight casualties to the Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester.

 

Five other victims were rushed by ambulance to Poole Hospital with minor injuries.

 

Another 12 'walking wounded' were escorted to the nearby Knoll House Hotel at Studland where they were checked over by paramedics and given cups of tea.

 

Many were suffering from shock.

 

Jock Nairn, station manager for Weymouth fire station, said: 'The bus rolled down an embankment and ended up rolling on its side, throwing the passengers clear.

 

'When the fire crew from Swanage arrived there was a lot of confusion as a lot of the casualties were lying some way clear of the bus on the heathland.

 

'Luckily the heather and gorse was nice and soft and that appears to have broken their fall. They were very lucky.

 

'Nobody was trapped. We used heavy-duty lifting equipment to lift up the bus to look underneath to check if there was anybody trapped but there wasn't.'

 

Steve Smith, from Dorset Ambulance Service, added: 'Fortunately they had an extremely lucky escape as they were thrown into heathland consisting of heather.

 

'It would have been quite a soft landing for them rather than landing on concrete which could have caused serious injuries.'

 

Police have launched in inquiry into the cause of the crash.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1040116/Open-bus-horror-Miracle-escape-children-thrown-deck--lucky-heather.html

So knowing Lord Brown he will ban open-top buses