Relatives visit crash scene

Mourners clung to each other for support

Relatives of holidaymakers who were killed or injured in a minibus crash have visited the scene of the accident.

Six passengers and the driver were killed - including three members of one family from Herefordshire - in the crash on Thursday morning.

Flowers were left at the scene of the accident, near junction four of the M56 motorway in Greater Manchester.

Mourners included the sister of Gillian Boniface, 47, from Dunfermline, who was injured with her daughter Ami, 14, and whose husband Duncan, 47, was killed in the crash.

Christina Hynd flew down from Scotland to Manchester to visit her sister and the scene.

Relatives of the victims laid flowers at the scene

She told the Edinburgh Evening News: "They were looking forward to their holiday in Mexico and I can't believe it happened. It's terrible."

Mr Boniface's brother William said: "We are still trying to discover exactly what happened.

"Many of our relatives don't know the awful truth."

The family of minibus driver Robert Taylor, 42, of Stretford, Greater Manchester, said they had been "absolutely devastated" at his death.

In a statement, his wife Elaine and 24-year-old daughter Kelly said: "Everyone who knew him has been left absolutely devastated by what's happened.

Robert Taylor was driving the minibus to the airport

"We would like to send our deepest condolences to all the other families who have been affected by this tragedy and let them know we are thinking of them."

Earlier, police named 47-year-old Martin McCoig-Lees, his wife Denise, also 47 and their nine-year-old son, Ryan Guy - from Ledbury, Herefordshire - among the dead.

A second son, Richard, 15, survived the accident and was being comforted by his brother Matthew, 19, who is a student at Manchester University and was not with the family at the time of the crash.

Chris Tweedale, head teacher at John Masefield High School, Ledbury, where four of the Mr and Mrs McCoig-Lees' sons attended, said the community was "shocked and upset."

He added: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time.

The roof of the minibus was torn off by the impact of the crash

"Ledbury is a small town and we all feel a sense of loss and sadness."

Another victim of the crash was named as Doreen Sommerville, 43, of Sunderland.

Her 39-year-old partner, Ian Jobson, suffered minor injuries in the collision.

Alice Barr, 50, from Belfast, was also killed and her 55-year-old partner suffered minor injuries.

Three men from Leeds, aged 31, 32 and 35, all sustained minor injuries and were treated at Stepping Hill hospital, Stockport.

A woman and a teenage girl are still critically ill in hospital.

Police are examining CCTV pictures to try and establish what caused the crash which killed seven people.

Greater Manchester Police are working on the theory that the driver, who was killed, lost control when he clipped a Toyota Carina he was overtaking.

The minibus - which was pulling a luggage trailer - overturned, ripping off its roof as it hit a crash barrier.