Moments from death
The students, aged 12 to 16, were just minutes away from boarding the vehicle parked in Columbia Drive, Durrington, just before 8am on Tuesday.
The 12 German pupils, who arrived in Worthing on Sunday for a language course, were due to travel to Field Place, Durrington, at 8.30am.
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Hide AdBut as they approached the coach, they saw it and a petrol tanker collide. The tanker driver, from Essex, who was on his way to the Tesco store in New Road, suffered slight injuries and shock. Police confirmed he had not been drinking but are appealing for witnesses to the crash.
Maria Everest, the secretary of Sompting-based Overseas Students Organisation, which is running the study tour, said: "The students are all in shock. They just missed getting into the coach before it happened. They are very upset.
"If the students had been on the coach, the four at the back would have been killed instantly."
Read the full story in this week's Worthing Herald