Tour-Bus Crash Kills At Least 10 In Britain -- Wreck On Wet Road Injures 30 People

FAVERSHAM, England - A bus carrying Americans on a sightseeing trip to Canterbury Cathedral ran off a wet highway in southeastern England today, killing 10 people and injuring 30.

The coach carrying 46 people spun out of control off the M2 motorway (freeway) in Kent county and careened down an embankment after apparently clipping a van ahead of it, police said.

Police said the dead were eight women and two men. They did not immediately release names or further information beyond saying the British driver was among those killed.

However, a relative said he had been notified that two of the victims were his sisters, Deborah Weimer, 34, of Lafayette, La., and Francis Hubbard, 52, of Houston. Tommy Becnel, also of Lafayette, said the women and two other sisters were taking the tour with their 75-year-old mother.

Earlier, police said they expected the death toll to rise to 12. But hospital officials said none of the injured was in danger of death.

The accident happened at about 9:40 a.m., about two hours after the bus, operated by Travelers International, left London. It occurred near the town of Faversham about 50 miles southeast of the capital.

Paramedics treated some of the injured who were trapped in the wreckage until firefighters cut the passengers free.

Some of the injured were treated on the wet, leaf-strewn embankment before being taken to Kent and Canterbury hospitals. Others were whisked away by helicopter ambulances.

Authorities said only two of the injured were in serious condition.

The tourists were on a day trip to the 12th-century Canterbury Cathedral, seat of the Anglican Church, and to Leeds Castle.

Police said the van was slightly damaged and one occupant had a bump on the head, but the driver kept control and then pulled up, Jon Steel, a police spokesman, said.

"The back window (of the bus) was smashed and bodies had been thrown out. People had appalling injuries caused by broken glass," said John Walraven, who lives near the accident site. "Some were trying to stand up but couldn't because of broken limbs."

Rodney Chapman, spokesman for the Kent ambulance service, said the bus was held up by cables as paramedics scrambled to treat the injured in very wet, windy conditions.

A spokesman for the Kent ambulance services described the weather as "terrible there - windy, blowy and raining."