16 people injured in three-vehicle crash

A minibus which crashed on a motorway in Greater Manchester and put 16 holidaymakers in hospital suffered a burst tyre, reports say. Witnesses rang emergency services for what one road-user described as “a sea of bodies” on the carriageway on Friday morning (BBC News, 2009)

When the minibus, which was taking the tourists to Manchester Airport at the time of the incident, burst a tyre on the M60, the vehicle spun across the carriageway and collided with two other cars.

One man was thrown through the air while the vehicle flipped onto its roof, sustaining serious injuries. Most other passengers suffered minor injuries, while the people in the two vehicles that were hit escaped unharmed.

Six people required spinal boards, as well as three more serious casualties, according to the fire service. “The rest were walking wounded, with cuts and bruises and suffering from shock,” (BBC News, 2009).

Police and ambulance services, as well as three fire engines, attended the scene and cleared debris from the road. None of the children taken to hospital suffered serious injuries, and thankfully the injuries of the man who was thrown from the minibus were not life-threatening.