A WOMAN who received serious injuries after a school bus catapulted her into a water-filled ditch early on Monday evening, remains in intensive care in a critical condition.

The collision occurred at around 4.45pm, half-a-mile from Lower Quinton on the Stratford Road which runs from Ilmington towards Wimpstone.

The woman and her husband both 65 and from Cheshire, are understood to have been walking along the country road when they were hit by the single-decker bus. The collision resulted in the windscreen of the bus being broken in the impact.

Two ambulances, a paramedic officer and the critical care paramedics from the Midlands Air Ambulance from Strensham, who responded on a rapid response vehicle, were sent to the scene.

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “The woman was thrown into a ditch that was four to five feet deep and had water at the bottom of it. When crews arrived she was barely conscious; she was rescued with the help of firefighters and taken onto an ambulance where she started to come round.

“She had a serious head injury, pain in her back and a potential fracture to her pelvis. It took around 20 minutes to get her out of the water given the level of injury. As a result she had become very cold.

“She was immobilised using a neck collar, spinal board and pelvic binder. She was taken on blue lights to the major trauma centre at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire with the critical care paramedics travelling with her.

“Her husband was found on the road with a badly broken right arm and shoulder. He too was immobilised and taken on blue lights to the same hospital."

West Mercia police said the man driving the bus and who was estimated to be in his 30s was shaken but not injured. They also say there were at least two passengers on the school but but they too were unhurt.

Police say no arrests have been made at this stage.