A 10-year-old boy has been confirmed as the child who died in a school coach crash in Somerset, police said on Friday. The coach overturned on a road in Exmoor on Thursday afternoon, plunging 20 feet down an embankment while returning from a trip to Exmoor Zoo.
Twenty-one passengers were taken to hospital, with four children and three adults still receiving treatment in Somerset. Two children taken to Bristol Royal Hospital for Children by air ambulance also remain in hospital. The driver of the coach, which was carrying between 60 and 70 people, is in a stable condition with injuries.
The school, Minehead Middle School, was closed on Friday along with five others in the Beacon Education multi-academy trust. Headteacher Laura Mackie said she was 'completely heartbroken' and described the loss as 'unimaginable'. Prime Minister Keir Starmer paid tribute on social media, saying there were 'no adequate words to acknowledge the death of a child'.
Emergency services including Avon and Somerset Police, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue, and South Western Ambulance Service attended the scene, supported by air ambulances and the National Police Air Service helicopter. Volunteers from Exmoor Search and Rescue carried out first aid triage at a local pub set up as a rest centre.
Flowers were left outside the school as the community mourned. The director of Ridlers Coaches, which operated the vehicle, confirmed all school routes into Minehead had been suspended. Police are conducting a complex collision investigation and the road remains closed.
