the Bermuda Day Marathon Derby yesterday.

The vehicles collided on East Broadway at the junction with Lane Hill when the ambulance was responding to an emergency with its siren wailing at about 11 a.m., Police said.

The Police van was escorting a group of marathon runners.

The drivers of both vehicles were treated for minor injuries at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, then released.

Both had been westbound East Broadway just prior to the crash.

While many runners and spectators saw the accident, Ms Patricia Price had a vantage point from her patio directly above the crash scene.

"It was horrific,'' she told The Royal Gazette . "I could see what was going to happen. I was standing up on my porch screaming my lungs out, but nobody could hear me. I couldn't do anything to stop it.'' When the ambulance collided with the side of the Police van from the rear, "the impact was tremendous,'' she said. "I have never been in a situation where I heard many, many voices scream in utter horror.'' Ms Price, who was the first to dial 911, said both drivers did their best to get out of the way of the other, but the collision was the result of "incredibly bad luck.'' The driver of the rushing ambulance could see both westbound lanes were blocked -- one by the runners and the other by the slow-moving Police vehicle.

But the driver could also see the eastbound lane was clear, and was able to swerve to the right into that lane where there was a break in the median near the Lane Hill junction, she said.

At the same moment, the driver of the Police vehicle, who wanted to clear the westbound lane for the ambulance and was blocked to his left by the horde of runners, also veered into the eastbound lane, she said.

"Both of them were giving way to each other,'' she said. "They were both trying to avoid an accident.'' The Bermuda Fire Service assisted in separating the vehicles and washing down the road.

The Police investigation is continuing.