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Monday, 2 September, 2002, 07:17 GMT 08:17 UK
Three bus crash survivors fly home
Minibus
Two men were killed instantly in the crash
Three men injured in a minibus crash in Belgium which killed two and left six hospitalised on Saturday have arrived home.

The group of eight men from Rhayader in Powys were travelling through Ypres in Belgium on the way to the Grand Prix in Spa when their bus collided with a lorry.

Driver Edward Evans, who would have been 52 on Sunday, and Geoffrey Edwards, 53, were killed.

Geoffrey Edwards
Geoffrey Edwards: Victim
Lawton Symons, 59, 42-year-old Huw Thomas and Elwyn Jones, 52, have made the journey back to Wales.

Three other men - Danny Jones, 35, David Jones, 53, and Christopher Rees, 47 - are still in hospital but out of danger, Belgian police said.

Officials believe the accident happened when the minibus driver misunderstood a traffic light and turned left into an oncoming lorry.

Prayers were said in Rhayader on Sunday for the victims and survivors of the crash.

It was the first time Geoffrey Edwards had ever left the country, according to his wife Carol.

Mrs Edwards said: "He had said he wouldn't go on the trip because I would have been on my own. But I told him to and get the chance of seeing a different country.

"He was very homely but he had been really looking forward to the trip."

Lawton Symons
Lawton Symons: Recovering
Rhayader mayor Colin Evans, a colleague and personal friend of driver Edward Evans, who would have been 52 on Sunday, said he would be sorely missed.

"It is my birthday too and we would quite often share a celebration. It is just terrible," he said.

"I was at a local fete when I heard the news. It has sent shockwaves through the community.

"Everyone will know someone who is involved. I am devastated."

Traffic lights "misunderstood"

A Belgian police spokesman said: "The minibus was at crossroads at traffic lights and the story from the passengers and the driver of the lorry was that the driver must have hesitated between going left and going straight ahead.

"At the last minute he must have decided to go left and must have assumed because the lights were green to go straight ahead he could go left as well."
Rhayader
Rhayader is a close-knit town

The tourist group had arrived in Belgium on Thursday and had been sightseeing in Ypres, the site of an important British First World War memorial.

One of the men also had friends in the city, according to the police.

They had intended to travel on to the Grand Prix in Spa on Sunday.

The Foreign Office said consular staff were contacting the families and offering them assistance.

Inspector Adrian Evans of Dyfed Powys Police said officers were liaising with police in Belgium.

Specialist officers had been appointed to support the families of the deceased and injured, he added.

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 ON THIS STORY
BBC Wales' Sian Lloyd
"The accident is a tragedy for the close-knit town"
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