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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| School bus driver dies at wheel | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The driver of a coach carrying Liverpool schoolchildren home from a skiing trip has suffered a fatal heart attack at the wheel. | |
| The 34-strong party from West Derby Comprehensive were returning through Germany from a skiing trip in Austria when the coach span out of control. | |
| It ploughed into the central reservation of a motorway in Karlsruhe. | |
| No-one else was injured and the staff and pupils stayed overnight in a nearby Red Cross centre. | |
| The vehicle was on hire from Newcastle-based Keiths Coaches. | |
| It is understood the driver had worked for them for many years and was very experienced. | It is understood the driver had worked for them for many years and was very experienced. |
| It is astonishing and miraculous that they were not injured Headteacher Margaret Rannard | |
| Keith Grimes, Managing Director of the coach company, said: "At this time my main concern is with the safe return of the children to school that are currently on route to Calais with a fellow coach operator from Germany." | |
| He thanked German and Northumbria Police for their help and said the Red Cross had provided food, drinks and bedding for the children. | |
| Headteacher Margaret Rannard said all parents have been informed and a replacement coach was bringing the children home. | Headteacher Margaret Rannard said all parents have been informed and a replacement coach was bringing the children home. |
| "It is astonishing and miraculous that they were not injured. My thoughts go out to the family of the driver. | "It is astonishing and miraculous that they were not injured. My thoughts go out to the family of the driver. |
| "He was one of two drivers that took the students around all week and they got to know him. | "He was one of two drivers that took the students around all week and they got to know him. |
| "It's terribly, terribly sad," she said. | "It's terribly, terribly sad," she said. |
| The pupils, aged between 14 and 18, are due back in the country on Thursday morning. | The pupils, aged between 14 and 18, are due back in the country on Thursday morning. |