Edinburgh bus crash: Double-decker ploughs into bridge

Eight people have been injured when a double-decker bus crashed into an overhead walkway at an Edinburgh hospital.

Emergency services were called to the scene at the Western General Hospital at around 3.30pm on Sunday. 

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said eight people were treated by paramedics but their injuries are not thought to be life-threatening. 

Eight people were injured when a double-decker bus crashed into an overhead walkway at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh on Sunday afternoon

A bystander said at least three people were treated at the scene including a female thought to be aged around 14, while an adult male was said to have been treated on grass near the bus, and put on a spinal board by medics.

The woman added: ‘The driver seemed to be young – he looked upset.’

The number 113 Lothian Country Bus is understood to have taken a wrong turn off Crewe Road South, en route to the Western General hospital around 3.25pm. 

After travelling more than 100 metres along the 10mph Hospital Main Drive, it struck an overhead walkway separating the hospital’s Cancer Centre and Ward one, the Macmillan Day Treatment Centre.

The bus is 14 feet high, while the walkway it hit is only 12 feet high. 

The bridge is clearly marked ‘headroom: 12’0” at almost exactly the point of contact. 

The entire roof of the bus was torn off as the vehicle passed three quarters of its length under the bridge before coming to a halt. 

A bystander said at least three people were treated at the scene including a female thought to be aged around 14, while an adult male was said to have been treated on grass near the bus, and put on a spinal board by medics

A bystander said at least three people were treated at the scene including a female thought to be aged around 14, while an adult male was said to have been treated on grass near the bus, and put on a spinal board by medics

One witness said there was glass covering the road and that the first few rows of seats on the bus’s top deck were ‘pushed back and smashed up’. 

It is not known how many people were on board the bus at the time, or whether any of the passengers were on the top deck when the collision occurred.

The back row of upper seats were torn in half when the roof was ripped off. Seating and mangled handrails could clearly be seen from the road.

The upper deck windows were all shattered, with glass showered across the road, directly outside the Edinburgh Cancer Centre.

Police and ambulance services raced to the scene, along with fire appliances.

Police Scotland said several injured people were ‘receiving treatment’, adding ‘at this moment none are serious or life threatening.’

A spokeswoman from The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: ‘The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service was alerted at 3.38pm on Sunday to reports of a road traffic collision involving a bus at Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital, Crewe Road South.

It is not known how many people were on board the bus at the time, or whether any of the passengers were on the top deck when the collision occurred

It is not known how many people were on board the bus at the time, or whether any of the passengers were on the top deck when the collision occurred

‘Three appliances were immediately mobilised to the scene by Operations Control alongside a heavy rescue unit.

‘Firefighters discovered upon arrival that the double decker bus had collided with an overhead walkway.

‘A total of eight casualties were transferred to the care of waiting ambulance crew.

‘Firefighters are presently working to make the scene safe.’ 

A recovery vehicle was on hand on Sunday to remove the roofless double decker.

A spokesman for East Coast Buses said in a statement: ‘Our first concern is with everyone involved in this incident and our thoughts are with those injured and their families.

‘It is too early to know the full circumstances of what happened.

‘We are cooperating fully with the police and will be carrying out our own investigation.’ 

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