A HOLIDAY coach from Burnley has collided with a lorry and ploughed into a field, injuring 51 people, seven seriously.

A full-scale emergency operation involving helicopters, ambulances and fast response cars, was launched after the horror smash happened in York at about 11am.

A 16-year-old girl was flown to hospital by air ambulance with serious head and neck injuries.

Six other people were seriously hurt in the crash on the A64 bypass near the city's racecourse.

They were also airlifted to hospital after suffering head and whiplash injuries.

Seven ambulances, two rapid response vehicles and two other helicopters were drafted in to rush casualties to hospitals at York and Leeds.

The accident has caused massive traffic disruption on York's busy bypass and police urged motorists to avoid the area.

The coach, from Viscount Central in Burnley, was carrying 49 passengers, mostly elderly holidaymakers.

They were on a five-day tour of the Scarborough area of North Yorkshire which started last Monday.

The crash, on the eastbound carriageway shortly before 11am today, left a lorry almost smashed in half, and forced a coach off the road and into a field.

Emergency services said today six people had been seriously injured.

Hospitals in York, Leeds and Harrogate were prepared to take the casualties, believed to be mainly elderly and from the north west. They were on a five day tour of the Scarborough area.

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

An eye witness said: "The lorry is basically smashed in half, and the coach appears to have gone through the central reservation and is quite a distance from the lorry.

"It's in a field and the front is pretty much smashed in. People are still aboard now and people are being brought out of the back window by firefighters."

The ambulance spokeswoman said that one 16-year-old girl had been taken to Leeds General Infirmary with serious head and back injuries.

Most major injuries are believed to be spinal.

She said the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and a helicopter from RAF Leconfield were in attendance, together with seven ambulances and numerous officers.

Doctors had been called to the scene and York District Hospital, Harrogate District Hospital and Leeds General Infirmary were preparing to take casualties.

The ambulance service spokeswoman said: "We were called at 10.56am to a collision between a lorry and a coach on the east bound carriageway of the A64 near the racecourse".

The coach company, Viscount Central from Burnley, refused to comment today.

A spokeswoman for the haulage company which owns the lorry, Pudsey Transport in Leeds, said: "Our driver has rung in to say he's okay."

Anxious relatives can call a special casualty hotline on 01609 768111.