Bath multiple-fatal tipper truck crash investigated

Police said the truck, carrying aggregate, crashed as it travelled down the hill

A tipper truck crash on a steep hill in Bath that left a child and three adults dead is under investigation.

The truck also struck "a number of vehicles" and hit two pedestrians as it came down Lansdown Lane in Upper Weston, police said.

Three people in a car and a young girl who was on foot died in the crash, the scene of which was sealed off.
Police said early witness accounts "suggest the driver was trying to avert an accident".

Four others were seriously injured in the crash, with one left in a critical condition. The lorry driver was also taken to hospital.

Ch Supt Caroline Peters, of Avon and Somerset Police, said officers were met with a scene "of carnage", at about 16:00 GMT on Monday.

"We have a collision team of investigators who are trying to assess the cause of this accident and we are working very closely with the fire service and South West Ambulance," she said.

A spokeswoman for South Western Ambulance Service said a patient taken to Southmead Hospital in Bristol by air ambulance was in a critical condition.

And BBC reporter Andy Howard, at the Royal United Hospital in Bath, said a spokesperson confirmed two men and a woman had been admitted to the hospital with "multiple" but "not life-threatening" injuries.

Two of the casualties were being kept in overnight as a precaution, but the third had been discharged, he added.

Further casualties with less serious injuries received treatment from paramedics at a nearby school.

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Ch Supt Caroline Peters from Avon and Somerset Police says the crash happened at a busy time of day

Don Foster, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, said the community was "in shock".

"It is a road where we have put speed limits in and flashing lights because it is quite a steep hill coming down," he said.

"We are still waiting to get more details as to what the cause was. It is obviously devastating, tragic and awful, but until we know more we cannot speculate."

Air ambulances took some of the casualties to hospital

Bath and North East Somerset Council said nearby Weston All Saints Primary school would be closed on Tuesday.

Police said on Monday that Lansdown Lane was expected to remain closed overnight as collision investigators carry out a detailed examination.