Two children have been left seriously injured following a horror smash on the A9 involving a bus full of schoolkids.
Cops have launched an investigation after a car burst into flames following a two-vehicle crash with a bus.
The incident happened south of Inverness at around 4.45pm on Saturday, June 19.
Four fire crews raced to the scene to tackle the blaze and the road remained closed for a number of hours while investigations were carried out
It has now been revealed the crash involved a bus carrying 39 people, including 36 schoolkids, and a silver Skoda Octavia car driven by a 45-year-old woman with two child passengers, aged nine and seven-years-old.
The driver of the car was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary with serious injuries, while the two child passengers were rushed to Raigmore Hospital, police confirmed.
A 48-year-old man, the co-driver driver of the bus, was also seriously hurt and was taken Raigmore Hospital.
The rest of the people involved in the horror smash, the 64-year-old driver of the bus and thirty-six secondary school children and their teacher, made a lucky escape and were not seriously hurt.
Inspector Greg Dinnie of the Road Policing Unit said:
“This was a serious crash involving four adults and thirty-nine children who were on the bus and in a Skoda Octavia.
“Our enquiries into the cause of the collision are continuing and I would urge anyone who saw what happened, and has not yet spoken to officers, to come forward.
“I would also ask motorists who were using the A9 at around 4-45pm and may have been recording via dash-cam devices to check their systems and provide any relevant footage to us as soon as possible.
“The road was closed for approximately 10 hours to allow our crash investigations to be undertaken. I would like to thank the public for their patience whilst this was being carried out."
Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 quoting incident number 2981 of 19 June, 2021.
