School bus crash probe continuesInvestigations will continue into the cause of a crash which killed two schoolchildren and a pensioner and required two children to be airlifted to North East hospitals.
Kieran Goulding, 15, and Chloe Walker, who was celebrating her 16th birthday, died when the bus taking them home from school hit a car on the A66 near Keswick.
Both youngsters were studying at Keswick School in the Lake District and were on their way home on a 49-seater coach on Monday afternoon. The smash also claimed the life of Patrick Short, 68, from Braithwaite, who was behind the wheel of the only other vehicle involved.
Chloe was described as a "delightful" youngster whose tragic death came just three years after her brother Jordan died from the degenerative condition sanfilippo which he had battled since he was seven.
Mike Chapman, head of Keswick School said on Tuesday night: "The second tragedy in the family is just awful. I cannot begin to describe how I would feel in those circumstances."
Chloe should have been sitting her GCSE exams this week and planned to go on to study A-levels at the school's sixth form. The head described Kieran as "always cheerful" and said he "had a good group of close friends."
The coach they were on and the Honda Civic car driven by parish councillor Mr Short were travelling in opposite directions on a straight stretch of the A66.
Inspector Richie Vernon of Cumbria Police said the "early indication" was the car had crossed the centre line of the road when it hit the coach which then flipped over. It is not yet known what may have caused 68-year-old Mr Short - children's services manager at Barnardo's Allerdale Children's Centre in Maryport - to cross to the wrong side of the road.
Nine children remain in hospital - two in a serious but stable condition - in various hospitals across Cumbria and in Newcastle, Preston and Middlesbrough.
Copyright (c) Press Association 2010
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