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A 17-year-old school girl killed in a coach crash during "horrendous" weather conditions in Scotland has been named as Natasha Jade Paton. Breaking News/n3:49pm UK, Wednesday March 31, 2010 Girl Killed In School Coach Crash Is Named/n * Share * * o Share * Comments (50)/nAdam Arnold and Alison Chung, Sky News Online A 17-year-old school girl killed in a coach crash during "horrendous" weather conditions in Scotland has been named as Natasha Jade Paton./nNatasha, from Cleghorn, Lanark, was one of 12 teenagers injured when their vehicle careered off the road and down an embankment, smashing into water and coming to rest on its side, partially in a river./nThe coach, with 33 children, five staff and a driver on board, crashed shortly after 6am on the A73 in South Lanarkshire. They were on a school trip heading for Alton Towers in Staffordshire./nAt least three youngsters were seriously injured and another eight suffered minor injuries in the accident at Wiston, near Biggar./nThe children came from Lanark Grammar School in South Lanarkshire./nPolice said the bus fell 10ft into the river after losing control and crashing through the bridge wall./nFire and rescue service were forced to rescue the passengers through the coach's sun roof. The driver was trapped inside the bus and had to be taken out on a stretcher.The accident happened as the bus approached a left-hand bend at the foot of a hill and it is thought it careered into the wall after failing to negotiate the corner./nOfficers said driving conditions in the area were "horrendous"./nSuperintendent Iain Murray, head of road policing for Strathclyde Police, said the exact cause of the accident was still under investigation./nBut given the weather in the area, snow "had a part to play", he added./nAround 15 ambulances went to the scene of the accident./nA spokesman for the ambulance service said casualties had been taken to Wishaw General Hospital, while those with minor injuries were being assessed at the scene.Most of the people in the bus were being looked after at a nearby town hall, reports said./nSky News correspondent Jane Chilton said: "We don't know the cause of the crash./n"Obviously there's been a lot of snowfall and ice overnight throughout Scotland and in particular that area. There were a number of walking wounded."/nMark Attwood, who lives nearby, said he was woken up by the sound of the crash./nSoon afterwards, an adult came to his door and said a bus had landed on its side in the river./nHe said: "They said a couple of schoolchildren needed heating up. They were obviously shocked and upset, and I am as well./n"It happened so close to my house and my own children use that route. I'm very shaken up." Adam Arnold and Alison Chung, Sky News Online/nPower Cuts And Drivers Stranded In Blizzards /nHundreds of people have been rescued from their cars and tens of thousands of homes are without power after blizzards blanketed parts of northern Britain./nPower Cuts And Drivers Stranded In Blizzards/n * Share3 * * o Share * Comments (8)/n2:20pm UK, Wednesday March 31, 2010/nAdam Arnold and Rob Cole, Sky News Online Hundreds of people have been rescued from their cars and tens of thousands of homes are without power after blizzards blanketed parts of northern Britain./nSnow storms and strong winds have hit many parts of Scotland, with more snow, gale force winds and torrential rain wreaking havoc across Northern Ireland./nIn Glenshane Pass, County Londonderry, around 300 people had to be rescued from their vehicles which became stranded in snow, including a bus carrying 20 schoolchildren, police said./nOfficers, mountain rescue and the coastguard worked to lead them to safety at a nearby leisure centre - which was then hit by a power cut./nAbout 48,000 homes in the province were without electricity after high winds brought down power lines and poles./nThe power cuts hit an area stretching from Enniskillen in the south to Coleraine in the north. Power Cuts And Drivers Stranded In Blizzards/n * Share3 * * o Share * Comments (8)/n2:20pm UK, Wednesday March 31, 2010/nAdam Arnold and Rob Cole, Sky News Online Hundreds of people have been rescued from their cars and tens of thousands of homes are without power after blizzards blanketed parts of northern Britain./nSnow storms and strong winds have hit many parts of Scotland, with more snow, gale force winds and torrential rain wreaking havoc across Northern Ireland./nIn Glenshane Pass, County Londonderry, around 300 people had to be rescued from their vehicles which became stranded in snow, including a bus carrying 20 schoolchildren, police said./nOfficers, mountain rescue and the coastguard worked to lead them to safety at a nearby leisure centre - which was then hit by a power cut./nAbout 48,000 homes in the province were without electricity after high winds brought down power lines and poles./nThe power cuts hit an area stretching from Enniskillen in the south to Coleraine in the north./nLatest Sky News Weather Forecast/nThere were also weather-related power cuts for up to 20,000 households across Scotland, with Ayrshire among the areas worst affected./nIn the Borders, the East Coast Mainline was closed by landslides at Dunbar and Berwick, hitting all services north to Edinburgh./nAnd a coach carrying teenagers on a school trip has crashed in the bad weather, seriously injuring four of the children. The Met Office has issued extreme weather warnings for all of Scotland and Northern Ireland, forecasting more severe blizzards and severe drifting snow up to 50cm (20in) deep in parts./nThere could also be snow flurries across high areas of England and Wales, experts have said./nDespite it officially being British Summer Time, the weather does not want to play ball./nSky News weather presenter Isobel Lang said: "It was just starting to feel more spring-like, and then hey presto, our weather has plummeted into winter./n"The weather conditions will be atrocious in places with around 15cm, six inches, of snow possible at low levels, and a staggering 40cm, nearly a foot and a half, over high ground./n"Some routes are likely to become impassable, and interruptions to power supplies are also possible."/n Over high ground, heavy snow will continue to accumulate with another 15cm to 30cm possible, or up to a foot./nRead blog by Sky's Isobel Lang/nSpeaking about the rescued motorists in County Londonderry, Chief Inspector Stephen Cargin from the Police Service of Northern Ireland told Sky News: "The road conditions were becoming so bad that there was about 10 inches of snow./n"About 120 vehicles were trapped on a 15-mile stretch of the Glenshane Pass. We had to commence an emergency operation involving ourselves, the coastguard and mountain rescue./n"We've rescued about 300 people from their vehicles. Everybody has been rescued safely with no casualties. About nine people refused to leave their vehicles and were staying there."/nThe worst of the snow is expected to die out by Thursday, but it will remain unsettled in most parts for several days./nNorthern Ireland Electricity said there was damage to its power network in Omagh, Enniskillen, Dungannon, Londonderry, Coleraine and Ballymena./nIn Scotland, snow ploughs and gritters were called out in many parts of the country as several inches of snow paralysed roads. Adam Arnold and Rob Cole, Sky News Online

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