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26 Apr 2013

M62 hen party minibus crash: one dead, 21 injured

A woman is dead, 21 injured and a lorry driver under arrest after a minibus crash on the M62 near Pontefract in West Yorkshire described as the “worst in years” by emergency staff.

Hen party bus crash on the M62.

The minibus was on its way to Liverpool when it was involved in the collision at junction 32 of the westbound carriageway of the M62 near Pontefract at about 11.30am.

West Yorkshire Police have confirmed one death and seven seriously hurt. The number of people injured was revised upwards to 21 on Friday evening.

The driver of the lorry, believed to be a local man, has been arrested in connection with the incident, West Yorkshire Police said today, adding that it was “standard procedure with fatal incidents”.

Chief Inspector Mark Bownass, head of West Yorkshire Police’s roads policing unit, said emergency services were called to a report of a collision between a large goods vehicle and a minibus from South Elmsall.

“We believe the minibus at this time was heading to a hen party in Liverpool,” he said.

“Sadly within this accident there has been one fatality.”

He said one woman had died and other casualties had been taken to numerous local hospitals. Six air ambulances attended the smash.

Hen party bus crash on the M62.

‘Worst crash for years’

Dr David Macklin from Yorkshire Ambulance Service said: “The crews as you can imagine faced a very difficult scene with multiple seriously injured people.

“They are trained to respond to those sorts of incidents, they reacted in a manner in which I would expect them to.”

He praised the “excellent and professional response” of ambulance crews. Members of the public also helped to give first aid.

Assistant Chief Fire Officer Dave Walton said that firefighters had remarked that the crash was “the worst they had seen in a number of years”.