Two Men Dead After Van Hits RockNess Bus

Two men have died after their van collided with a bus taking people from Edinburgh to the RockNess music festival near Inverness.

The female driver of the bus, which had 46 passengers on board, had to be cut free and was airlifted to the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow with serious injuries.

The Northern Constabulary said 14 of the passengers have been taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness for treatment to a range of injuries, none of which are life-threatening.

The incident happened at about 3.40pm on the A9 at Ralia in the Scottish Highlands, about 55-miles from the festival site in Dores on the banks of Loch Ness.

Officers said the identities of the men who died will not be released until their relatives have been told.

The road is closed in both directions and there are expected to be long delays.

The A9 is one of Scotland's most dangerous roads, and last week two lorry drivers died in an apparent head-on collision.

The lorries, one carrying newspapers and the other barrels of alcohol, crashed on the A9 north of Blair Atholl, Perthshire, in the early hours of last Friday.

The latest crash has prompted repeated calls from people on social networking sites
for the road to be fully widened to a dual carriageway as soon as possible.

The long-awaited upgrade is scheduled to start in 2017 and the road is set to be completely dualled by 2025.