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.
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