A 12-year-old boy killed when a double-decker school bus carrying 75 pupils home crashed near Cowbridge in south Wales has been named as Stuart Rhys Cunningham-Jones.

The Cowbridge Comprehensive School pupil died after the bus plunged off a narrow humpback bridge as it travelled through his home village of Ystradowen on the A4222 on Tuesday.

The vehicle fell into a field and came to rest on its side after hitting a tree.

A further eight pupils and the driver were treated in hospitals in the region, and one 15-year-old boy trapped in the wreckage for half an hour was flown by air ambulance to Morriston Hospital in Swansea.

He suffered arm injuries but was reported to be in a stable condition later in the evening.

Six of the injured were treated at the Royal Glamorgan in Llantrisant and three at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend but none needed to be kept in overnight.

Police said they were treating the site of the accident as a crime scene, and would be interviewing the driver, but were still not clear what had prompted the accident.

Crushed

The bus had left the road and crashed whilst travelling between Aberthin and Pontyclun. The incident was reported at about 1530 GMT.

A major emergency services presence was scrambled, numbering an air ambulance, four fire engines and two rescue vehicles.

Many children had managed to get out of the bus alone and were walking around, according to eyewitnesses.

But the victim was reportedly crushed inside the lower deck when the vehicle toppled.

Others were treated by paramedics at the adjacent White Lion pub, which was converted into a makeshift trauma base.

White Lion landlady Jane Clarke said: "The police asked us to open to take in the children - both the injured and the uninjured ones. It has been very upsetting."

'Standing room'

Pupils at the scene told BBC News the bus was packed and that some of them were standing. The bus swerved and left the road, they said.

They said there was panic, screaming and shouting but that they tried to help each other. Teachers heading home from also school stopped their cars to help.

The police asked us to open to take in the children - it has been very upsetting

Jane Clarke, White Lion pub

It is not known whether any other vehicles were involved.

Police shut the A4222 road, causing peak-time traffic problems.

The bus was operated by local firm EST Ltd. on behalf of Vale of Glamorgan council. The firm said it was "extremely concerned" and its managing director had gone to the scene.

South Wales Police chief superintendent Neil Jellings said the tree had propped the bus up at a 45-degree angle, stopping it from falling on its side and preventing a more serious tragedy.