A court has been hearing that a 15-year-old boy died when a packed school bus flipped over and crashed in Co. Offaly.

A Westmeath vehicle testing firm and the owners of the bus hire company have gone on trial charged in connection with the fatal accident on April 4th 2006.

Teenager Michael White lost his life when the school bus went out of control and crashed near Clara.

On day one of the trial, the jury was told that a rear axle had come off the bus causing it to overturn.

'Really loud bang'

Former student Stuart Coyne recalled 'a really loud bang' and said "the back end of the bus completely dropped as if there was nothing there".

The jury heard evidence that on the day before the crash the bus appeared 'completely tilted' to one side.

Ruairi and Raymond McKeown of River Street in Clara - who own Clara Cabs - face 6 charges of failing to keep the 1989 Mercedes bus in a safe condition.

O'Reilly Commercials of Ballinalack, Mullingar are also being tried on charges of failing to note or verify defects when testing the bus in 2005.