Death smash overshadows first day of RockNess
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THE first day of the Highlands’ biggest outdoor music festival has been overshadowed by a horror smash which has claimed two lives.
Two men have died on the A9 after the van they were travelling in collided with a bus bound for the RockNess festival.
The two dead men, the driver and passenger in the van, will not be named until next of kin have been informed.
The bus had been carrying revellers from Edinburgh to the three-day event, which is now underway on the bank of Loch Ness at Dores.
The female driver of the bus was airlifted to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness for treatment to what police described as serious injuries.
Fourteen of the 48 passengers on the bus were taken to Raigmore for treatment to injuries which were believed to be minor following the collision at Ralia on Friday
The road was closed for a full accident inquiry. The accident follows the deaths last week on the A9 of two lorry drivers in an apparent head-on collision.
The lorries, one carrying newspapers and the other barrels of alcohol, crashed on the A9 north of Blair Atholl, Perthshire, in the early hours of last Friday.
The latest crash has prompted repeated calls for the road to be fully widened to a dual carriageway as soon as possible.
