IT’S A MIRACLE NO ONE DIED
Eight hurt as roof is ripped off double decker by walkway
EIGHT people were hurt when a double-decker bus crashed into an overhead walkway yesterday.
The roof was torn off as
the 14ft tall bus hit the 12ft high walkway – which is clearly signposted – connecting two buildings at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh.
Several seats on the upper deck were badly damaged.
A dad whose daughter was sitting upstairs said she could have been killed.
He added: “She was on the top front with her friend.”
It is understood the driver of the No113 East Coast Buses double decker went the wrong way.
Emergency services raced to the scene at Crewe Road South shortly after 3.30pm.
Firefighters said eight people were hurt. NHS Lothian later said seven were treated at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
None of the victims was seriously injured.
But plumber Michael Heron, whose daughter had a narrow escape, said the situation could have been much worse because of the driver’s “neglect and stupidity”.
A spokesman for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said yesterday: “We were alerted at 3.37pm.
“Three appliances were immediately mobilised alongside a heavy rescue unit.
“Firefighters discovered that the bus had collided with an overhead walkway. Eight casualties were transferred to the care of a waiting ambulance crew.”
Shortly after the crash, a police spokesman said: “At the moment, none of the injuries are serious or life-threatening. Access to the hospital remains unaffected.”
A spokesman for East Coast Buses, whose parent company is Lothian Buses, said: “Our first concern is with everyone involved in this incident and our thoughts are with those injured and their families. It’s 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.”
The walkway, which has a prominent height warning sign, joins the hospital’s Macmillan Day Treatment Centre (Ward One) and the Edinburgh Cancer Centre.
It is understood the driver hit the walkway after taking a left turn into the hospital site instead of continuing up the road before turning left at Porterfield Road.