Passengers onboard bus crash which injured 17 ‘feared a bomb had gone off’

Stunned victims of two double-decker buses that smashed into eachother described the collision as ‘like a bomb going off.’

Seventeen people were hospitalised after two yellow Bee Network buses collided with one another in Manchester City Centre on Saturday morning.

Both had been travelling down Rochdale Road, off Livesey Street at around8.30am on Saturday when one of the buses smashed into the rear of the other while it stopped to pick up passengers.

Among those injured was Nathan Mansbridge, 33, who told the Manchester Evening News: ‘It hit us with some force. It knocked us off the road. It all happened so fast, there was no warning.’

Passengers onboard the bus were intially startled by a loud ‘bang’, and were unsure of what had happened.

‘All the glass came falling through,’ Nathan explained. ‘Everyone was panicking. People thought a bomb had gone off.’

‘The crash was at the back so everyone tried to get to the front. It was chaos. There were women crying.

‘There was a lady lying in the aisle. She had blood all over her. I don’t know if she fell and hit herself. One young girl had a bust lip. The man next to me had cuts to his arms and hand from the smashed glass.’

Pictures from the scene show the left hand side of one of the buses completely mangled, while the rear of the other is completely caved in. At least one person on the upper deck of one of the vehicles had to be rescued by firefighters.

Harry Yearsley, an eyewitness who lives next to the crash site, said he and his partner were awoken by ‘the biggest bang we’d ever heard’.

He told the MEN: ‘We woke up and said to each other: “What is that?” We knew it was something bad.

Local councillor Pat Karney described it as ‘unbelievable damage’, posting on X: ‘Hope the driver is ok.’

Nine ambulances, an air ambulance, two response vehicles, an advanced paramedic and an operational commander attended the scene.

Seventeen people were hospitalised following the crash, although none of the injuries were reported to be serious.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) said: ‘At around 8.45am this morning (Saturday 9 November), two fire engines from Phillips Park and Broughton fire stations were called to a crash involving two buses on Rochdale Road, Manchester.

‘Crews arrived quickly and worked with Greater Manchester Police and North West Ambulance Service to make the area safe.

‘Firefighters extricated one person from the upper deck of the bus and 13 casualties were transferred to North Manchester General Hospital under the care of North West Ambulance Service.

‘Fire crews were in attendance for just over an hour.’

MORE : Huge fire after crash causes long delays on busy motorway

MORE : Man cleans London Underground seat and the results are nauseating

MORE : New high-speed hyperloop test claims to change the future of travel