A tour bus carrying young British Scouts has been involved in a head-on crash in Canada.

At least 16 people were hospitalised after the bus collided with a lorry in eastern Ontario shortly after 6pm.

Simon Carter, a spokesman for the Scout Association, said the injured passengers were part of a group of 102 teenage Scouts and leaders on an adventure holiday in Canada.

He 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."

David Thornton, an officer with the scout movement in Lancashire, said the youngsters were from different scouting groups across the county.

They had travelled to Canada on July 28 and had been to two camps in the country and were due to fly back to the UK on Monday.

Ontario Provincial Police spokesman Mark Boileau confirmed that none of the injuries sustained in the crash were life-threatening.

He said: "One young girl did sustain serious injuries. But that was not life-threatening either.

"I heard some things about people having broken noses and sore backs but that was the extent of it."

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