Merseyside Police has said a 14-year-old girl and the driver of a school bus that crashed on the M53 motorway have died. The coach collided with a car just before 8am on the northbound M53 en route to West Kirby all-girls grammar school and Calday Grange all-boys grammar school, in Merseyside. In a press conference, Chief Superintendent Graeme Robson added two children have been taken to Alder Hey Children's Hospital and eight have been taken to other hospitals after emergency assessment. Report by Brooksl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Good afternoon, I'm Graham Robson, the Chief Superintendent with Merseyside Police.
00:04 Emergency services were called to report of an overturned bus on the M53
00:09 just after 8 o'clock this morning.
00:11 We can confirm that the bus was a school bus
00:14 taking pupils to West Kirby and Calder grammar schools on the Wirral.
00:19 We understand there were 54 people, including the driver, on the bus
00:23 and sadly, I can confirm that the driver and a 14-year-old schoolgirl have died.
00:29 Two children were taken from the scene to Alder Hey Children's Hospital.
00:34 50 other children were taken to an emergency training centre
00:37 where they were medically assessed and 8 of those children
00:41 have been taken to the Countess of Chester and Arrow Park hospitals.
00:45 Our thoughts and condolences are very much with their families and friends at this tragic time.
00:50 Family liaison officers are providing specialist support to both families
00:55 and we are working with the schools, Wirral Council and Cheshire West Council
00:59 to ensure the necessary trauma support is in place for the children on the bus.
01:04 We also know that other children from both schools were on buses travelling in convoy
01:09 with the bus involved in the incident
01:12 and they witnessed the incident and they too will be provided with specialist trauma support.
01:18 The motorway is expected to be closed for a number of hours
01:20 whilst investigative work is carried out
01:22 and we would like to thank motorists for their patience
01:25 while the investigation is ongoing.
01:28 Diversions are in place and we encourage people where possible to take alternative routes.
01:34 I would also like to remind people that there is an investigation ongoing
01:38 and would ask people to refrain from posting anything on social media
01:41 that could hamper the investigation and not to speculate.