FOUR pensioners from Bolton have been injured in a coach crash on holiday in Spain.

More than 50 British holidaymakers were travelling on a coastal road outside Benidorm on the way back from a textiles factory when their coach collided with a lorry on a bend.

Thirty five people were rushed to hospital, three with serious injuries, and the driver, whose nationality is not yet known, is believed to have been killed.

Two Bolton couples were on the winter sunshine holiday in Benidorm for two weeks and were due to travel home at the weekend in time for Christmas.

Roy Fox, aged 79, and his 76-year-old wife Alice spoke from hospital at San Juan just outside Alicante last night.

"We had had a grand day at a blanket factory and were returning the few miles back to Benidorm," Mr Fox said.

"The accident happened on a bend. As far as we could see this on-coming lorry veered over the centre line on a bend. But we can't be sure."

The couple were kept in hospital overnight but are expected to be discharged this morning.

Tom Hall, aged 68, and his wife Rosemary were also on the trip.

"I look like a boxer with facial injuries, while Rosemary is doing all right but has chest pains," he said.

Dr Jose Navarro of the San Juan hospital emergency department said they would be watching over the elderly victims.

A spokesman at the emergency co-ordination centre at Valencia said that the 35 injured tourists had been taken to various hospitals in the area.

He said the majority were taken back to their hotels in Benidorm where they would be treated by local doctors.

The holidaymakers were mostly from the north of England and Scotland.