Road closed as bus carrying school children collides with tree

The crash happened on the Glenavy Road at 16:24 GMT

Two schoolchildren have been treated for minor injuries after the bus they were travelling on collided with a fallen tree outside Lisburn.

Emergency services were called to an incident at 16:24 GMT on the Glenavy Road, which has been closed, near the junction with Whinney Hill.

A number of schoolchildren were on the bus at the time.

Two were treated and discharged by ambulance crews at the scene.

Translink say they have launched an investigation into the incident as well as assisting the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) with their enquiries.

A spokesperson for the PSNI said the Glenavy Road is likely to be closed until Friday.

Lagan Valley MP Sorcha Eastwood told BBC News NI the bus should never have been on the road in the first place.

"A number of local people have told me that basically signage was in place," she said.

"This could have been preventable because there are so many signs right across Lagan Valley at the minute to say there's an obstruction. Please be careful on the roads, whatever it may be, and people are removing [the signs].

"People should not be removing them, we're still dealing with the after-effects of Storm Éowyn and there's a reason that the signs are there.

"Unfortunately now we've seen this situation where a school bus has clipped an already fallen tree and unfortunately there were some minor injuries."