PENSIONERS today said it was a miracle nobody was killed in the crash involving an East Lancashire bus which left 51 people injured as an investigation continued into how it happened.

Passengers have described their terror as the coach careered off the road, cut across the on-coming carriageway and landed in a field near York Racecourse.

The walking wounded were taking to several hospitals. All but five with serious injuries were discharged.

One of those is thought to be a Chorley pensioner but police say they are not releasing details until Monday.

No details of the driver, understood to be from the Burnley area, are being released.

Mike Williams, accident and emergency consultant, who also worked during the Selby train disaster in February, said none of the five more seriously injured had life-threatening injuries.

He said there were some spinal fractures, head injuries and two with abdominal injuries.

Mr Williams co-ordinated the major incident plans and went to the scene by air ambulance to ascertain the casualties to let the hospital know.

He said: "They have all been very, very lucky indeed. They have had an amazing escape. If that coach had hit anything else or overturned, we would have had a very different situation on our hands."

The Burnley-based Viscount Central single-decker coach collided with a broken down stationary lorry on the A64 shortly before 11am yesterday.

The impact took the side off the lorry and forced the coach, containing a driver and 49 passengers, through the central reservation and across the eastbound carriageway and through a field. But somehow the vehicle managed to stay upright.

An air ambulance flew one passenger with serious head and back injuries to Leeds General Infirmary.

The passengers, who had been picked up from Chorley, Bamber Bridge, Preston, Bolton and Rochdale and from Morecambe, Blackpool, Middleton and Ashton-Under-Lyne, had been on a tour organised by Alfa Travel of Chorley.

Spokesman for Alfa Travel Simon Posner said: "We would like to express our sympathy for everyone involved in the accident.

"We have senior representatives from the travel company at each of the hospitals.

"It is unclear what happened at this stage. The police and vehicle inspectorate are investigating and the travel company will also be carrying out its own investigation.

"The tour was on its way home after spending five days in the Scarborough area."

Five hospitals in York, two in Leeds, Pontefract and Harrogate took in casualties. The seriously injured were taken to Leeds General and York District Hospitals

An hour after the crash, an army of firefighters were still helping the coach passengers out of the back window of the bus.

Viscount Central of Burnley, refused to comment today. Alice Lusher, 78, and Vera Donnelly, 73, told how their holiday ended in disaster.

Vera said: "How he kept the coach from turning over I will never know. The coach kept moving from side to side. I was absolutely terrified."

Alice said she ended up on the floor of the coach after what seemed like ages for it to come to a stop.

She said: "We were just chattering away when the coach just started driving across to the other side of the carriageway. We didn't know what was happening.

"It was such a shock and it's a miracle nobody was killed."

Vera added: "The front windscreen was all smashed in so we had to be helped out of the back of the coach.

The pair, from Bolton, said they had been on holiday in Scarborough and were on their way back home

Viscount Central has a long history in Burnley and Pendle dating back to the early 1940s when it had two separate companies, Viscount and Central Motors.

They combined to make Viscount Central in the early 1970s and in 1986 were bought by Burnley and Pendle Transport.

Ten years' later the councils sold the company along with the former municipal bus company Burnley and Pendle Transport to Stagecoach.

Border buses took over Viscount Central in 1997, but when Border went into receivership last year Northern Blue's parent company Travelspeed Ltd took over.

Police said they expected to be able to release names and addresses of the injured people by Monday after relatives had been informed.

Anyone with concerns about their relative who may have been on the coach can contact 01609 768 111.