An inquest into a bus crash in Ecuador that killed five British women has been hearing testimony from the survivors.

The single-decker bus crashed into a lorry in April last year, as the passengers made their way to a fishing village 12 hours from the capital to help build a library.

Nicola Cox, of Bradley Stoke, was one of the survivors of the crash, although she did not give evidence at yesterday's inquest, held in Cheshire.

Nicola, a former Ridings High School pupil, who was 19 at the time of the crash, was on her way from Ecuador's capital Quito to the village of Puerto Lopez, where she and her friends were due to do volunteer work for a creche as part of a trip organised by Warwick-based travel specialist VentureCo.

Four teenagers – Emily Sadler, 19, from Hertfordshire, Rebecca Logie, 19, from Lancashire, Indira Swann, 18, from Berkshire and Elizabeth Pincock, 19, from Taunton, were all killed in the crash, along with Sarah Howard, 26, from Cheshire, a tour leader on her first expedition.

One survivor was Natalie Guzman-Leon, 24, who worked as a tour guide and translator.

The court heard that the 2002 VW bus was hit by a "dump trailer" which was on the wrong side of the road.

The trailer driver, Tulio Rudiger Velez Velez, fled the scene and has not been found.

The driver of the bus, Kevin Geovanny Cevallos Cordoba, also fled. He was later found but a local court ruled that he had no case to answer.

Cheshire Coroner Nicholas Rheinberg recorded a narrative verdict, used when the other verdicts are inappropriate and simply spells out what is known about events up to the deaths.

He said it was "inexplicable" how the two vehicles collided with clear views in both directions.