A FOREST of Dean coach driver is in hospital in Rotterdam after being injured following an explosion – believed to be caused by a bomb – on Sunday night.
Hayden Waite, of Newnham, a driver for K. W. Beard of Cinderford, received head injuries. It is thought he received his injuries in a fall after the blast ripped apart the front of the hotel on the outskirts of the city.
Mr Waite was driving a party of 17 Lydney Hockey Club players who had been competing in an Easter tournament.
The party returned to Lydney on Monday but the details surrounding the explosion were still unclear.
Mr David Beard, head of the family-run coach company, was in Rotterdam on Tuesday with Mr Waite's partner and another member of staff.
A company spokesman said : "Exactly what happened in still unclear. Hayden has been detained in hospital with head injuries. He has recovered consciousness and is undergoing tests."
Members of the hockey team returned to the hotel during the evening to find a scene of chaos.
The front of the building had been badly damaged by a blast on the second floor and the team had been staying in rooms on the third floor.
A spokesman said: "We were quickly able to establish none of the party had been injured but then we discovered the driver, who had stayed behind, had been taken to hospital.
"Fortunately our goalkeeper's father works at the hotel and he quickly organised things for us and we were transferred to another hotel and received all our luggage very quickly.
"We were due to leave on Monday morning and Beards did a great job organising all the transport. There was a coach waiting for us at Harwich on our return."
He said he understood the explosion had definitely killed one person.
"It seems as though there was an explosive device which went off at the wrong time and in the wrong place. It is not clear how Hayden received his injuries but the club is obviously concerned about him. It is difficult to get a clear picture of the situation at the moment but we understand he is improving."