One dead in M5 crash between bus and lorry There was fog in the area and the crash happened on a section of the motorway where roadworks were said to be under way. The Highways Agency activated incident warning signs above the road but minutes later police received a second call, reporting that an HGV had collided with the back of the bus. Seven fire crews with 40 firefighters from West Midlands Fire Service went to the scene, along with police and paramedics and the road was closed both directions. Three people including, the lorry driver, were trapped and had to be cut free. The driver, who is from the south west, and a passenger were in a critical condition at the trauma centre at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The lorry, owned by haulage firm Fowler Welch, was carrying chilled foods and was on a return journey to the south west from Manchester and appaered to have hit the white single deck bus from behind. Police said the bus was carrying 34 men and women who had been picked up from Birmingham earlier that morning. They said they did not know at this stage where they were heading, but added it was thought they were due to be dropped off at various locations in the local area for work. The motorway was closed in both directions after the crash. The northbound carriageway reopened at 9.30am, while the southbound side was expected to remain closed for the rest of the day while investigations continued. Witnesses said the fog at the time was "like milk." Chief Inspector Carl Flynn, from West Midlands Police, said: "There was really dense fog, whether that played a part, we do not know yet and must not make assumptions. The investigation will look at a range of factors; the weather, the road conditions, the drivers. The accident occured near to Frankley services between junctions 3 and 4 on the M5 Eye witness Paul Guppy told BBC News there were fog patches on the motorway at the time of the crash. He was driving on the opposite carriageway at about 6.40am - 15 minutes after the emergency services were alertd to the crash by a 999 call. There were fog patches, because I was driving through it with my fog lights on. That area is renowned for having fog, there's a lot of low-lying land," he said. It was quite horrendous at the time, and then it cleared. Whether the fog was a contributory thing, I don't know. The coach - believed to have been travelling from Birmingham to Evesham, Worcs, seemed to have been hit from the rear, on its offside, and was leaning, virtually intact, against a crash barrier, he said. Local hospitals were put on alert to receive the injured from the crash. A spokesman for Flower Welch said: "Fowler Welch has had a vehicle involved in a major road traffic accident on the M5. At this stage the facts are not fully known. Our thoughts and concerns are with those involved and their families. We will be co-operating fully with the police and emergency services to aid them in their investigation. The M5 was the scene of a devastating crash last November, which killed seven people and left 51 people injured when 34 vehicles were involved in a pile up in thick fog. The accident, the worst in Britain this decade, happened between junctions 24 and 25 of the northbound section of the motorway in Somerset. Cars and lorries involved in it were caught up first in the collision then a fireball which caused massive destruction. The interim findings of accident investigators earlier this month found that it was most likely to have been caused by thick fog and ruled out the possibility that smoke from a nearby fireworks display had obscured drivers' vision.