STV News understands that one female pupil has died after a school coach crashed near Biggar.

Strathclyde Police said the coach, which was carrying children on a school trip to Alton Towers, crashed around 5.50am on Wednesday morning.

The bus was carrying 39 children who are in their sixth year at school and six adults, including the driver. They were on a trip from Lanark Grammar school.

A police spokeswoman said at least four people are seriously injured while at least a further eight have also received minor injuries. At the moment, it is unknown who the seriously injured people are.

The accident happened on the A73 at Wiston. The village had been suffering from a power cut and had no electricity from 10pm on Tuesday night due to snow.

After the accident, many of the children were taken to the local village hall. Neil MacFarlane, who opened up the facility, said: "I got a call from Strathclyde Police at about 6am asking if we could open up the hall because there had been an accident.

"We opened it up but there was no power. The first children arrived around 7am. We were just trying to get them dry.

"Most of them just had cuts and bruises."

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Some of the injured children have been taken to the Southern General Hospital and Wishaw General Hospital. It is understood up to 15 ambulances and several fire crews had been dispatched to the area.

Strathclyde Police have asked parents of pupils involved in the bus crash to attend Lanark Grammar School and not the scene of the crash.

In a speech in London, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "At a time when winter weather has returned in spring to many parts of the country, our thoughts are with the families and the friends of those children of Lanark Grammar School who have been seriously injured this morning in a bus accident in the north of our country."

Jim Hood, the Labour MP for Lanark and Hamilton East, added: "This is a terrible and shocking accident, and my thoughts and prayers are with the staff and pupils involved, and their families.

"What was supposed to be an enjoyable trip to Alton Towers has ended in horrific circumstances. Our praise and thanks go to the emergency services who responded to the accident in difficult weather conditions."