One woman died at the scene and a further 20 were injured – seven
seriously – when a lorry hit a minibus travelling along the motorway
The group of 21 women were on their way to Liverpool from South Elmsall in West Yorkshire, as part of a hen celebration.
Twelve miles into their trip, close to junction 32 on the westbound carriageway of the M62, the minibus was struck by a Heavy Goods Vehicle.
The brute force of the collision shunted the minibus off the carriageway and down a grassy bank where it came to rest on its side on the slip road. The lorry also overturned in the smash.
The lorry driver was arrested in connection with the incident.
Dave Walton, Assistant Chief Officer for West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “There was a lot of debris and people lying outside the vehicle, by the roadside.
“This is where firefighters’ training kicks in, but at the end of the day they are human beings and they are not immune.”
With the Yorkshire Air Ambulance grounded for planned maintenance work, helicopters from other providers across the north were dispatched to the M62 to take the injured women to various hospitals.
One helicopter took a casualty to
Leeds General Infirmary,
while another flew to the James Cook
University Hospital in Middlesbrough with a patient on board.
Two aircraft from North West Air Ambulance and two from Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance were also involved.
A spokeswoman for Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust said: “Due to the scale of the incident we enacted our major incident plan and dispatched a significant number of resources to the scene including ambulances, our hazardous area response team, doctors and air ambulances.”
Police confirmed an off-duty officer was the first person to report the accident and had stayed at the scene to help. Witnesses are asked to call police, who are investigating what caused the crash, on 101.
The group of 21 women were on their way to Liverpool from South Elmsall in West Yorkshire, as part of a hen celebration.
Twelve miles into their trip, close to junction 32 on the westbound carriageway of the M62, the minibus was struck by a Heavy Goods Vehicle.
The brute force of the collision shunted the minibus off the carriageway and down a grassy bank where it came to rest on its side on the slip road. The lorry also overturned in the smash.
Dave Walton, Assistant Chief Officer for West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “There was a lot of debris and people lying outside the vehicle, by the roadside.
“This is where firefighters’ training kicks in, but at the end of the day they are human beings and they are not immune.”
With the Yorkshire Air Ambulance grounded for planned maintenance work, helicopters from other providers across the north were dispatched to the M62 to take the injured women to various hospitals.
Two aircraft from North West Air Ambulance and two from Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance were also involved.
A spokeswoman for Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust said: “Due to the scale of the incident we enacted our major incident plan and dispatched a significant number of resources to the scene including ambulances, our hazardous area response team, doctors and air ambulances.”
Police confirmed an off-duty officer was the first person to report the accident and had stayed at the scene to help. Witnesses are asked to call police, who are investigating what caused the crash, on 101.
BBC Report from of the Incident with Video
11:59 26 Apr 2013
Road Traffic Collision involving 1 vehicle. Casualty extricated by Fire Service Personnel and transported to hospital by ambulance. Appliances from Moortown and Wetherby attended.
09:01 26 Apr 2013
Belle Isle Road, Belle Isle, Leeds
Road Traffic Collision involving 1 vehicle. Casualty trapped was extricated by Fire Service personnel and transported to hospital by ambulance. Two appliances from Hunslet attended.
23:05 25 Apr 2013
Dulverton Court, Cottingley, LeedsAt 11:19pm last night police were called by the fire service who were attending a fire at a flat at Dulverton Court sheltered housing in Cottingley. The occupant of the flat, a 65-year-old man, was treated by ambulance staff but pronounced dead at the scene. The incident is not being treated as suspicious and the Coroner's office has been informed.
20:00 23 April2013
Whitaker Fibres Ltd, Birksland Street, Bradford.
Proved to be a bailing machine caught fire at a textile works.
Watch commander Alan Holdsworth said an electrical fault or the machine overheating may have caused the “quite serious” fire at the premise
Mr Holdsworth said: “The workers managed to isolate the electricity supply and used an internal hose reel to stop it from spreading.” Fire service staff left workers cleaning up at about 11pm. No-one was injured.
Appliances from Bradford and Idle attended.
