AN INVESTIGATION has begun into a crash between a school bus and a van which saw a young man airlifted to hospital with serious facial injuries and two children receive minor injuries.

A 22-year-old Swanage man driving a van registered to a Wareham firm was flown by air ambulance to Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester after being cut from the wreckage of his vehicle by fire crews.

Two children on board the bus - carrying 19 children - were too shocked to continue their journey to Sturminster Newton High School and were collected from the scene of the accident by parents.

Emergency crews from across the district went to the crash scene near Okeford Fitzpaine after a member of the public dialled 999 from a mobile phone just before 8.30am.

Five fire crews from Blandford, Sherborne and Sturminster Newton dashed to the scene with heavy duty cutting equipment to free the trapped van driver.

Officers had to carry the equipment through the bus to reach the stricken man, who was trapped by his legs behind the wheel of the van.

Two ambulances and a rapid response car arrived at the scene, but paramedics ordered Dorset's air ambulance to be scrambled after assessing the injured man's condition. Further buses were laid on to collect stunned pupils from Okeford Common.

Dorset County Council has put counsellors on stand-by for children shaken up by the accident.

Deputy head teacher Jayne Barron said staff at the school were proud of the manner in which pupils had responded to the accident.

The female bus driver was treated for minor hand injuries.

A spokesman for Vale Coaches said their driver had been discharged from hospital.

None of the children required treatment.

Police closed the road near Okeford Common for nearly five hours as emergency crews and accident investigators worked to establish the cause of the collision. The road was reopened at 1.15pm.

A spokesman for Dorset County Council said the authority would wait for the results of the police investigation before considering an enquiry of its own.