MEMBERS of West Lancashire scout groups are in a Candian hospital after the coach they were travelling on crashed head-on with a lorry.

Sixteen people were taken to hospital after the tour bus collided with the lorry in eastern Ontario shortly after 6pm.

The Scout Association said the injured passengers are part of a group of Scouts and leaders from West Lancashire who have been on an adventure-based trip to Canada for about a week.

Spokesman Simon Cator said: “They were travelling back to Toronto in two coaches - they were about 150 miles away.

“One of the coaches was involved in a crash with what appears to be an articulated lorry.

“Some young people sustained injuries. Fortunately none of them are life-threatening - they are cases of broken bones and shock.

“The emergency services were on the scene exceptionally quickly.

“We have a team of people in the UK speaking to parents and letting them know the majority of the group is okay.”

Describing damage to the vehicles as “excessive”, City of Kawartha Lakes Constable Mark Boileau told CTV Newsnet: “It appears it’s a head-on collision between the two vehicles.”

The police officer said collision investigators were examining the scene to find out what caused the crash.

He said it was not yet known if weather was a factor.

“It was raining up here prior to the accident but that will be determined by the investigation,” he added.

The British High Commission in Ottawa said it was aware of the crash.

“We have been in touch with the local authorities,” a spokeswoman said. “We have dispatched consular staff to the scene.”

A spokeswoman at Ross Memorial hospital in Lindsay said 16 people were admitted to hospital.

Kim Coulter, community relations co-ordinator at the hospital in Ottawa, said: “The hospital has received 16 patients who, to the best of my knowledge, are all British.”

She said all the patients were being given X-rays and CT scans to determine the extent of their injuries but as far as she had been told none of their injuries are life-threatening.

She added that the British Consulate in Ottawa had been given all the patients’ details and that an international phone line was being set up so the injured could contact family.

Scouts are aged between 14 and 18.

Constable Boileau told Sky News one passenger, understood to be a teenage girl, suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries.

“We are just hoping they recover and everybody else will be okay,” he said. “It’s going to be an investigation that takes some time.”

He said there were 36 people on board the coach.

The West Lancashire scouts association covers West Lancashire, Preston, Chorley and South Ribble.

The scouts had paid £850 each to go on the trip, which began on July 28 and which was due to end on Sunday.

They should have spent today setting up a camp.