ELEVEN children have escaped serious injury after their minibus overturned on a country lane.

The children all 16-year-olds from a school in Bootle, Merseyside, had been travelling in the first of two minibuses along Little Scotland, Blackrod.

Rescuers say they were only saved because they were wearing seat belts and the crash was cushioned by the vehicle hitting a hedge before bouncing back into the road and ending up on its side.

More details to follow