UK scouts hurt in Canada accident

The bus and lorry collided near Lindsay, Ontario

Ten British teenagers have been treated in hospital after their coach was involved in a head-on collision with a lorry in Canada.

The coach, carrying scouts and leaders from Lancashire, was on its way to Toronto when the incident happened near Lindsay, Ontario, on Thursday.

Those injured suffered cuts, bruises, whiplash and shock.

The scouts have all since been released from hospital and had resumed their sight-seeing itinerary of Toronto.

The group of 102 scouts, mostly aged 14 to 18, and leaders, were touring Canada when the accident happened at about 1300 local time (1800 BST).

Officers said the bus had entered a ditch at the side of the road following the collision.

Staff Sergeant Mike Reynolds, of Ontario Provincial Police, said traffic police were continuing their investigation into the cause of the crash.

"There was a storm going through the area at the time, there was some extreme weather," he said.

"That will be part of the investigation."

Investigators are expected to release their findings next week.

UK return

Simon Carter from the Scout Association said the group had been travelling in two coaches, and they were on schedule to return to the UK on Monday.

"We were lucky," he said. "The local emergency services are based a couple of miles away from the crash site."

By Friday the group had resumed its itinerary and was touring Toronto's waterways with the city's marine police.

David Thornton, an officer with the scout movement in Lancashire, said the young people were from a number of groups across the county, including the West Lancashire Scouts group.

The youngsters had travelled to Canada on 28 July and had been to two camps.

The British High Commission in the Canadian capital Ottawa said it had been in touch with local authorities and consular staff had been sent to the scene.

Emergency services took the teenagers to a local hospital

A spokeswoman at Ross Memorial hospital, in Lindsay, said all of the patients had been given X-rays and CT scans to determine the extent of their injuries.

David Guilbault, director of emergency services in Lindsay, said 11 ambulances and three fire crews had attended the scene.

He said injured people "were looked after, responded to very quickly and assessed very quickly, and the ones that did not require medical treatment at a hospital were taken to a community centre nearby where they were assessed by our medics".

Local journalist Jason Bain, who attended the scene, told BBC News: "It was a head-on collision and the front of the bus has been destroyed."

Ero Siouga, who lives in Haliburton, about an hour away from where the accident occurred, was on the scene about five minutes after the crash.

She said: "There is a big rock wall at the side of the road, and the vehicle seemed to have been wedged in against it."

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