Ecuador crash survivors back home

The five Britons killed were on a gap-year trip

Twelve survivors of a bus crash in Ecuador which killed five Britons have returned home to the UK.

The bodies of the four teenage gap-year students who died and their 26-year-old guide will be flown back separately to London, via Madrid.

The survivors have "stuck together" and seem to have been coping well, BBC correspondent Andy Gallacher said.

The five young women died after their bus was in a collision with a lorry, in a crash which injured 15 others.

The group was almost three weeks into a 15-week trip - an Inca and Amazon adventure with language tuition and work on a series of volunteer projects.

Minor injuries

The survivors arrived at Heathrow's Terminal 2, having flown via Madrid.

Family and friends met them at a VIP area shielded from public view, but a Foreign Office spokeswoman confirmed that all 12 UK survivors were back in the country.

One French survivor of the crash was also flying home to his family.

Gap-year students Indira Swann, 18, of Berkshire, Lizzie Pincock, 19, of Somerset, Rebecca Logie, 19, of Lancashire, and Emily Sadler, 19, of Hertfordshire, were killed.

Travel company guide Sarah Howard, 26, from Cheshire, was also killed.

Of those injured, the 12 Britons, a French national and two Ecuadorians suffered whiplash, minor facial and leg injuries.

Fled the scene

The group had been heading from the capital Quito to the coast when the crash happened at 1930 local time on Saturday (0130 BST Sunday) in Sancan, on the road between Manta and Jipijapa.

Ecuadorian authorities have begun an investigation into the cause of the tragedy.

Police in the country said the driver of a lorry carrying a load of sand had crashed into the bus.

They recovered the lorry and its licence plate but it is thought the lorry driver fled the scene.

The holiday was organised by the Warwick-based tour company VentureCo, which specialises in gap-year trips.