AN ambulance taking a pregnant woman from Skye to Raigmore Hospital in

Inverness crashed on an ice-covered road early yesterday, killing the

relief midwife, the paramedic and the unborn baby.

Mrs Louise Hill, 30, of Ullinish, a modern languages teacher at

Portree High School, had gone into labour with her second child before

the ambulance hit black ice at 7am about 10 miles west of Invermoriston.

It crashed into a coal lorry and turned over as it left the road. Mrs

Hill was thrown out of the vehicle's back doors, landing at the side of

the road.

Her husband Jeremy had been travelling in his own car some distance

behind the ambulance and was one of the first on the scene. He later

accompanied his wife by ambulance to hospital.

Midwife Susan Beaton, 40, of Gesto Farm, Dunvegan, and paramedic

technician David Brown, 38, of Caroy, Dunvegan, were both killed

instantly.

The Fort Augustus ambulance reached the scene 14 minutes after being

alerted. An RAF helicopter en route to Glencoe to resume the search for

two missing soldiers was diverted to Glenmoriston and took the victims

to Raigmore Hospital, including ambulance driver Gerald Barnes, of

Struan, Skye.

Mrs Hill's baby was stillborn on arrival and last night her condition

was described as stable.

Mrs Beaton, a native of North Uist, was a relief nurse who had been

standing in because of sickness.

She leaves a husband, Angus, and four children -- Karen, nine, David,

seven, Katie, five, and two-year-old Iain. The three eldest are all

pupils of Dunvegan Primary School which closed yesterday as a mark of

respect.

Mr Brown leaves a wife, Norma, who has been a community psychiatric

nurse in Portree for a number of years.

Highland Regional Council was criticised for not having gritted and

salted the A887, the main road between Skye and Inverness.

Lorry driver Michael Grant, 21, of Kessock Avenue, Inverness, spoke of

the tragedy after he had been released from hospital and criticised the

council for the state of the roads.

He said: ''I saw the ambulance coming down the road quite fast towards

me. Suddenly the driver seemed to lose control and it skidded from side

to side.

''Then in a flash the tail end of the ambulance bounced off the

passenger side of my cab, and it put both vehicles into the ditch.

''The impact of the crash blew the back doors off the ambulance and

the pregnant woman flew out of the back of the vehicle on to the grass

verge. She was whimpering 'Help me, help me.'

''It was completely ridiculous that Highland region's roadmen had not

been out gritting these roads.''

A Highland regional spokesman said last night: ''We are fully

investigating this tragic accident.''

Mr Iain Smart of the Skye and Lochalsh Hospitals Action Group said

they had been demanding a maternity unit on Skye for many years.