LONDON (AP) — A bus carrying dozens of schoolchildren overturned on a highway near Liverpool on Friday, seriously injuring one person and causing a local hospital to declare a major incident as doctors treated dozens of passengers.

The bus was transporting students from Calday Grange Grammar School and West Kirby Grammar School for girls on the Wirral Peninsula, across the River Mersey from Liverpool. Traffic on the M53 motorway was blocked as police and other emergency services responded to the incident, which was reported shortly after 8 a.m. local time.

The North West Ambulance Service said it dispatched ambulances, advanced paramedics, a hazardous area response team and a helicopter emergency medical service doctor to the scene.

“So far, one female patient has been taken to the hospital, suffering major trauma-related injuries,’' the ambulance service said. “There are also nearly 50 other patients being assessed at the scene.’'

Alder Hey Children’s Hospital declared a major incident after its accident and emergency department was inundated. The hospital asked parents to bring their children to the hospital only for emergencies.