Three are still critical after fatal coach crash

This is the dramatic aftermath of a fatal crash in which a coach carrying more than 70 passengers plunged down a steep embankment and into a garden.

One man, a 26-year-old from Poland, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash in Alton, Staffordshire, close to the Alton Towers theme park. Three others remained critically ill today.

Twenty-one people were taken to local hospitals. Two more of the injured were airlifted to hospital and paramedics treated " walking wounded" at the medical centre at Alton Towers.

The single-deck coach, from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, was travelling from the theme park towards Alton village when it crashed shortly before 6pm last night.

It collided with two stationary vehiclesand smashed through a wall before plunging 10 to 15 feet, Staffordshire Police said.

The passengers, from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and South Africa, had been on a day trip to the theme park. They are believed to be farm workers. The coach driver, a British man from Lincolnshire, was seriously injured.

Chief Inspector John Maddox from Staffordshire Police said today: "We're carrying out inquiries, gathering evidence from the scene and speaking to witnesses.

"This is likely to take some time given the nature of the incident and the diverse background of those involved. We have a number of interpreters helping us."