BRITAIN:A mother and her two young children are believed to have lost limbs in a horrific crash after a National Express coach overturned near London-Heathrow airport, killing two passengers.
Rescue workers said the woman, her seven-month-old daughter and three-year-old son lost arms or legs in the wreckage of the double-decker coach, which went out of control on a motorway sliproad.
The 40-year-old driver of the coach, which was travelling from London to Aberdeen in northeast Scotland via London-Heathrow, has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
Some witnesses said the coach had been running late after a delay at the airport and was travelling at high speed in wet conditions.
The impact of the crash caused many passengers to be dragged along the motorway, and several others also had arms or legs severed in the force of the crash or suffered head or spinal injuries. Investigators will be looking into how many of the passengers were wearing seat belts, which have been compulsory for passengers over the age of 14 since last September.
It is thought that many on the coach were not strapped in.
All 68 passengers and the driver were taken to hospital after the crash, late on Wednesday evening.
Last night at least seven people remained in a serious or critical condition, including a 14-year-old boy.
One of those who died was named last night as 76-year-old Christine Toner, who was travelling with her husband, Jim, a former footballer with Dundee and Leeds United. He was badly injured in the crash.
Neighbours said they had been travelling home to Dundee after visiting relatives over the holiday period. The other death was of a man in his 20s, as yet unidentified.
South central ambulance service admitted last night that the crash had initially been assigned a so-called category B non-urgent status by 999 operators, meaning that it took 14 minutes for the first ambulance to reach the scene.
Last night National Express said 12 double-decker buses had been withdrawn for checks, but most of its 500 fleet were still on the road.
"They are being withdrawn as they come to the end of their journeys," a spokesman said.
- (Guardian service)