Seven people airlifted after Harris road crash 9/4/12
Seven people have been airlifted to hospital after a road crash on Harris today.
One person, with a suspected serious head injury, and another, feared to have damaged their spine, were being treated by medics last night. Both are understood to be elderly.
The remaining five people, including a boy and a girl, are believed to be walking wounded with minor injuries. Two of the group were unhurt.
The people carrier vehicle careered off the Tarbert to Leverburgh road, down an embankment and plunged into a loch. The car, which was heading south from the Tarbert direction, crashed by a bend at a newly widened double tracked section of road.
It ended up in Loch Bearastadh Mor, a long freshwater loch which runs in front of a quarry and along the road on the rugged moorland of the west side of Harris.
No other vehicles were involved in the accident which happened just after 4pm. Police said the roadway was badly affected by surface water.
The silver-
The emergency services, including the Tarbert and Leverbugh fire crews and the local coastguard shore team, were on the scene and helped free the casualties from the vehicle.
Firemen were knee-
The Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service said emergency personnel helped three people get out of the smashed car. Paramedics treated the casualties on the scene.
The Stornoway coastguard rescue helicopter made an urgent flight to rush two of the most seriously hurt directly to the islands’ main hospital in Stornoway.
They were met by a coastguard team and a hospital ambulance at the heli-
The aircraft returned to the accident scene and transferred another five people to the Stornoway hospital around 6.45pm.
The road was closed for over two hours and traffic was diverted along the longer east coast route instead.
Photo: Alasdair Leonard