Lorry driver quizzed over mini-bus deaths

A lorry driver was being questioned by police today after a crash in which three passengers in a minibus carrying physically and mentally handicapped adults were killed.

Eight passengers and the minibus driver were injured in last night’s accident outside Toomebridge, Co Antrim, on the main road between Belfast and Derry.

At least two of the injured taken to the Antrim Area Hospital were believed to be in serious conditions. The driver of the lorry was also taken to hospital.

Police said the 40-year-old from Derry was later arrested and was assisting them with their inquiries at a local police station.

The minibus is understood to have been carrying people from a local nursing home.

Eyewitness Peter Doran, who was having coffee at a petrol station and restaurant near the scene, said: ‘‘It was an absolutely terrible thing to see.

‘‘I saw the minibus sliding on its side along the road, it hit a wall and came to a sudden stop.’’

Helped by two lorry drivers, he said he got a knife and cut seatbelts which were blocking the windpipes of passengers and managed to get all but two of the passengers out.

‘‘At that stage there were two people dead and some people very, very seriously injured. There was one person who had a broken neck.’’

The ambulance service praised those who helped the injured before the emergency services arrived for doing ‘‘an absolutely marvellous job’’.

Police later said they wanted to speak to a motorist in a red car which conveyed the driver of one of the vehicles involved to Antrim Area Hospital immediately after the collision.