A woman remains in a critical but stable condition after her car was in a “head on” collision with a coach carrying schoolchildren from Newbury Park.

Five pupils from Oaks Park High School had to be taken to hospital with minor injuries and were later discharged.

The pupils, aged between 14 and 15 from the school in Oaks Lane, were returning after a school trip in Norfolk on Friday.

The coach was in collision with a black Mercedes on the A11 in Elveden at 1.24pm. and three women had to be airlifted to hospital. One woman remains in a critical but stable condition.

Headteacher Steve Wilks, in a message posted on the school’s website on Friday, said: “I would like to thank the staff and the two sixth formers accompanying them for the very professional way in which they dealt with the situation.”

The coach was carrying 48 students and adults on Friday when the collision happened near the A1101 roundabout and B1106 junction.

The hospitalised children were taken to West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds.

Sgt Bob Patterson, of Suffolk Police serious collision investigation team, said the cause of the crash was still being investigated.

But the said the collision between the coach, operated by a Milton Keynes firm, and car was a “head on impact.”

However, he said the weather conditions were not a factor as it was bright and sunny at the time of the incident.