Survivors tell of horror crash

The death toll in the Selby rail crash has risen to 13, with a further 50 people injured - 30 of them seriously - following this morning's collision involving two trains and a Land Rover at Great Heck, near the Yorkshire town of Selby.

More than 100 firefighters are at the scene, battling to rescue those still trapped inside the wreckage.

Hospitals in Leeds and Doncaster are on full alert at present, and are handling the dozens of casualties ferried from the scene.

All nine carriages of the 4.45am GNER Newcastle-King's Cross intercity train - the main service from the North-East to London - derailed at Great Heck near Selby at 6.20am after a Land Rover and trailer skidded off a railway bridge on the M62 motorway and onto the track.

A goods train loaded with cement was also involved in the head-on collision, but police say they are still not certain which train was first on the scene.

The train had already stopped at Durham, Darlington, Northallerton and York, having departed from Newcastle, and was carrying 120 passengers.

Passenger Raymond Brindley, a former railway worker, smashed glass and escaped through the emergency door of the rear carriage before racing to the nearest lineside telephone and alerting the signalman to the accident.

He said: "The track seemed to give way under us, the lights went out and we seemed to be going everywhere in all directions. We came to a stop, the coach filled with diesel fumes, I broke the glass and opened the emergency door. It was utter chaos".