Coach passengers had a lucky escape tonight when their vehicle crashed and flipped over on a motorway.
The Dutch-registered 40-seater coach, which was carrying 26 people, veered off the M3 and down an embankment a mile from Fleet Services, Hants.
It came to rest on its side among bushes and trees next to the hard shoulder.
Five people were taken to hospital but police said that none of the passengers were seriously injured.
A spokesman for Hampshire Police said that the coach overturned at about 6pm and that the crash was being treated as "serious."
The police spokesman said: "A coach overturned, a mile away from Fleet Services at around 6pm. The coach, which is Dutch registered, was carrying around 26 passengers. None are thought to be seriously injured.
The vehicle had been travelling southbound when the accident happened at 6pm.
Emergency services dashed to the scene and
two passengers had to be cut free from the wreckage by fire crews.Police closed the carriageway between junction 4a at Farnborough and 5 at Fleet while the passengers were evacuated and the coach removed.
A Hampshire Fire Service spokesman said: "The coach came off the carriageway and went down an embankment.
"It ended up on its side. There were a few walking wounded and we had to cut two people out but luckily no one was seriously hurt."
Hampshire Police spokeswoman Meline Turkington said: "A coach overturned, a mile from Fleet Services at around 6pm.
"The coach, which is Dutch registered, was carrying around 40 passengers. None are thought to be seriously injured."
Crews from Basingstoke, Rushmoor and Hartley Witney were also at the scene.
One eye witness on the M3 tweeted: Coach overturned in front of us! Scary as! Luckily everyone is okay and we weren't hit, they tumbled into a ditch."
A diversion was put in place along the A30.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/m3-coach-crash-five-people-1522063