Ambulance services have taken 15 people to hospital after a bus veered into a pedestrian zone near Victoria station in central London.
The driver of the 24 bus, pedestrians and passengers were injured in the collision on Thursday morning, with witnesses saying they heard a big crash when the bus smashed into barriers at about 8.20am.
Sam Genders, a maintenance worker who was working on a building on Allington Street when the bus crashed nearby, said: “It crashed into the barriers right in front of us. The bus driver crawled out the front covered in blood. All the glass was smashed. A lot of the passengers were injured. We were trying to help everyone out and get them off the bus. It was horrible, horrible scenes.
“If the barrier wasn’t there, we probably wouldn’t be here right now.”
His colleague Dave Short said emergency services arrived quickly and that an air ambulance arrived to take away injured people. “We were lucky. Lucky [also] that no one was crushed underneath it,” said Short.
The London ambulance service said it treated 17 people, discharging two at the scene. There were no fatalities.
Mohammed Ali, 40, a public safety officer at Victoria station, said he rushed to the scene after hearing the crash and saw about seven people injured. “There was blood all over the place and passengers lying on the floor,” said Ali, who immediately called emergency services.
He said the bus should have turned right but that it appeared to have lost control and driven straight into a pedestrian zone. Ali said there was initial concern about smoke coming from the bus, which people said could have been caused by a damaged battery.
There was a large emergency service response, including the air ambulance, several paramedics teams and the fire service. The police cordoned off a large area and said the road would remain closed for several hours.
Pictures from the scene showed a large area cordoned off and crowds gathered around the site of the incident, which happened during the morning rush-hour.
The Metropolitan police said in a statement that they had launched an investigation and were appealing for information from witnesses.
Emit Suker, 47, told the PA Media news agency: “[The bus] was coming from Westminster – it was going really fast and came off the road. There were about 15, 16 people inside the bus. People were screaming – it was terrible.”
Another witness told PA: “I heard a massive crash – came outside and there was a woman on the floor with loads of people around her. Lots of people from the gym had run out to help her.”
A trail of diesel fuel running down Allington Street has forced police to ban smoking in the area over safety fears.
Rosie Trew, TfL’s head of bus service delivery, said: “Our thoughts are with the people who have been injured following a bus incident at Victoria Street. We are working with the police and the operator, Transport UK, to urgently investigate this incident.
“This must have been a distressing incident for everyone involved and we have support available for anyone affected.”
