Bus crashes with pupils on board

Police Scotland has issued an urgent appeal for witnesses following a serious crash on the A9, south of Inverness.

The crash involved a bus carrying 36 children and a silver Skoda Octavia car driven by a 45-year-old woman, with two child passengers, aged nine and seven.

It happened at 4.45pm on Saturday and resulted in four people being taken to hospital with serious injuries.the driver of the car was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary with serious injuries.

The two young passengers of the car and a 48-year-old man, the codriver driver of the bus, were taken to Raigmore Hospital, also with serious injuries.

It is understood the car burst into flames following the collision.

The rest of the people involved in the crash – the 64-year-old driver of the bus, 36 secondary school children and their teacher – were not seriously injured.