'Luton coach involved in fatal crash'
Witnesses tell of Alton Towers tragedy
One man died and 70 others were injured when a coach carrying migrant workers rolled down an embankment and overturned near the Alton Towers theme park.
According to the theme park, the coach was operated by a Luton company.
It collided with a car, crashed through a wall and ended up in a garden near the popular day out destination just before 6pm.
Passengers are believed to have roots in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and South Africa.
Two people were flown to hospital and 29 others taken for treatment by road, ambulance officials said.
The man who died was 26 years old and from Poland, according to police.
The passengers were reported to be living in the Peterborough area and to have been on a trip to Alton Towers.
Terri Peachey, whose garden the coach crashed into, said she heard a sound "like thunder" when the accident happened and found injured people "bleeding", screaming and "laying on the floor crying" in her garden.
"It all happened so quickly," she said, adding that the coach landed metres from her house.
Bradley Ford, who lives at the nearby Alton Bridge Hotel, helped with casualties.
He said: "I heard this massive crash, rumble, of either crunching metal or what sounded to me initially as a thunderstorm as it was heavily raining before.
"Then after that we heard shouts and screams so we obviously put it down to a crash.
"When I got to the scene there was a bus overturned, it looked like it had ploughed into a car and then down a neighbour's driveway into the garden.
"It must have dropped about 20ft. There were people climbing out of the fire exits on the bus. There were many walking wounded, all being seen to by the ambulance staff."
Do you have any information about the crash? Contact the newsdesk by clicking here, or call 01582 700666
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Weather for Luton
Tuesday 07 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -8 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: East
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