Bus carrying British children crashes in Belgium, driver dead

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Bus carrying British children crashes in Belgium, driver dead

Reuters
June 28, 2015, 7:30 pm

Rescuers stand next to a British bus, which was transporting 34 children before it overturned and crashed on a motorway, near the city of Middelkerke, Belgium, June 28, 2015. REUTERS/Dominique Jauquet

By Eric Vidal

MIDDELKERKE, Belgium (Reuters) - A British bus with 34 children on board overturned and crashed on a motorway in Belgium on Sunday morning, killing a driver.

None of the children nor six accompanying adults were seriously injured in the accident, which happened when the driver lost control of the vehicle on a stretch of the E40 motorway near the Belgian coast, authorities said.

The bus lay on its side beneath a concrete bridge that the vehicle appeared to have hit as it swerved out of control.

"One driver has been killed, the other is seriously injured. Some of the children with light injuries have been taken to hospital and local medical centres," Janna Rommel-Opstaele, the mayor of the nearby coastal town of Middelkerke, told Reuters.

She said the bus was operated by British company NST, which organises school tours.

Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement it was providing consular assistance and "working closely with the Belgian authorities to establish details of the incident".

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Robin Emmott; editing by Jason Neely)