A double-decker bus carrying 70 people overturned in a crash in Somerset on Tuesday morning, with 54 patients triaged at the scene.
Police and the air ambulance attended the incident on the A39 Quantock Road, near Cannington, at around 6am.
Footage of the scene showed rescue teams clambering over the wreckage to smash the vehicle’s windows and free its passengers.
Avon and Somerset police had urged the public on Monday only to travel if it was “absolutely essential” after responding to more than 50 road crashes caused by freezing weather.
A fleet of 23 ambulances took 54 individuals, who work at Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, to three separate hospitals around the county.
Police said it was “too soon” to confirm if any of the individuals had suffered life-threatening injuries, but no fatalities were reported. A total of 26 workers suffered minor injuries.
EDF Energy, who are building two nuclear reactors at the power plant, said the crash occured eight miles away from the site and involved a bus hired to transport its workers.
Ashokkumar Ramasamy, a 27-year-old worker who was taken to Bridgwater Hospital for an operation on his hand, said he felt lucky to be alive.
“I was on the first floor of the double-decker bus - on the right-hand side,” he said. “Suddenly I heard a sound, someone shouting 'oh my God', then the bus swerved right and left and then fell down.
“Everyone who works at the station gets the bus, so there were lots of people on it - engineers and workers - everyone.
“It happened in seconds, people were shouting that they were crushed, it was so scary. When it happened I thought I was dead. I feel so lucky that I only broke my hand, that's it.
“In the moment my mind was blank, I just thought of my wife. I was praying to God that the bus wouldn't flip more than once. I feel lucky, even though I was in an accident, it could have been worse.”
Ian Liddell-Grainger, the MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, has demanded an investigation into how the accident occurred.
“Obviously it was a terrifying experience for everyone on that bus and my thoughts are with them and their families,” he said.
“But we absolutely must get to the bottom of why this crash occurred, because EDF is very conscious of the need to maintain the highest safety standards for the protection of their workers – and that concern naturally extends to those periods when they are being transferred to and from the site.
“I am aware police have been reporting a high number of accidents in the area this morning, all of them blamed on icy road conditions.
“We need to establish as soon as we can whether similar circumstances played a role in this particular event.”
Inspector Rebecca Wells-Cole, from Avon and Somerset Police, refused to give an explanation for the crash, but it is understood officers will investigate whether the road had been sufficiently gritted.
Somerset Council said all main routes were gritted on Monday afternoon before temperatures dropped, but conceded the “majority of roads aren’t gritted and never have been”.
A spokesman said: “Ice can still form on gritted roads which is why we echo the advice of our Avon and Somerset Police colleagues to only travel when it is necessary and to proceed with extreme caution if you are using our roads.”
The freezing weather also caused havoc in West Yorkshire, where a £500,00 Ferrari flipped from one side of a busy dual carriageway onto the other and crashing into a van.
