A double-decker bus carrying highschool students plunged into a river in southern England on Thursday (June 26, 2025) sending the driving force and 4 teenagers to the hospital and leaving greater than a dozen others with minor injures, officers mentioned.
The bus was certain for Barton Peveril Sixth Form College, a faculty for 16- to 18-year-olds, when it sped off a highway in Eastleigh and plunged into the River Itchen. The explanation for the wreck was being investigated by police and the bus firm.
Overspeeding suspected
Police mentioned there was no indication why the bus veered off the highway. But a lady who lives close by and heard a screeching sound and noticed the bus crash via roadside limitations into the water mentioned the driving force informed her he couldn’t cease.
Kelly West, who helped among the students to security, mentioned the bus was driving at a pace of 100 km/hour and mentioned it was like a scene out of “Speed,” the Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock movie a few bus barreling via Los Angeles.
“One of the younger adults mentioned the bus was simply getting quicker and quicker because it got here down the highway and so they didn’t know what he was going to do,” West said. “I can well imagine they were all thinking they were going to die, quite frankly.”
Inspector Andy Tester of the Hampshire Constabulary mentioned it “must have been terrifying.”
All 19 passengers on board were either able to get off the bus or were rescued, police said. The bus driver, who was trapped, and one student had serious injuries but were expected to survive.
West said the driver was alert and sharp, but panicking. She reassured him that help was on the way.
“He mentioned the brakes failed and the accelerator was jammed and that he was making an attempt to keep away from vehicles,” West mentioned.
The bus was sitting upright in the river, subsequent to a bridge, water as much as its axles. Its entrance home windows had been smashed and dirt was splattered on its facet. A big part of bridge railing was lacking.
About 14 students had been handled on the scene by paramedics, the South Central Ambulance Service mentioned. Two helicopters, 5 ambulances and fireplace crews responded to the crash.
Bluestar Bus mentioned it didn’t instantly know the circumstances of the crash.
