A FREIGHT train driver trapped in the wreck of his cab after the Selby rail disaster reached out for his friend's hand - and found him dead.

Experienced driver Andrew Hill, 42, yesterday recalled the horrific aftermath of the crash in February 2001 which killed six passengers and four railway staff.

He was speaking at the Harrogate inquest into the deaths, which included passenger train driver John Weddle, 47, and chef Paul Taylor, 42, both from Newcastle, Teesside University professor Steve Baldwin, 44, and York man Barry Needham, 42.

The disaster happened after a GNER express was derailed when it collided with a Land Rover which had plunged onto the track. The express then ploughed into the freight train.

Mr Hill was suspended upside down in his cab with his colleague, Steve Dunn, 39, who was later confirmed dead, only feet away.

On the day of the collision, he was supervising Mr Dunn on ''route learning '' as they took the fully-laden coal train to Ferrybridge Power Station, near Pontefract.

Mr Dunn was described as a competent and experienced driver who was qualified to take control of the freight train. He was driving the train at the time of the collision.

Mr Hill told the inquest how the derailed GNER express train smashed into his train close to the village of Great Heck, near Selby.

Seconds earlier, he saw a green light switch to red further up the line. ''It suggests something is seriously wrong,'' he told the jury.

He recalled watching in horror as the front of the GNER train hurtled towards his train with ''sparks flying''. Mr Hill only had time to tell his junior colleague to ''get the brakes on" before the impact.

Moments after the high-speed collision, he came round and remembered choking and being unable to breath.

Groping about in the dark, he reached out and grasped Mr Dunn's hand. He called his name but got no response and realised he must be dead.

A short time later he heard a woman's voice telling him to close his eyes while she shone a torch into the cab and rescuers began to extract him. He was taken to Pontefract General Infirmary with minor injuries, mainly bruising and cuts.

Andrew Bright, a crash and impact specialist, told the inquest that the energy released from the collision was double that emitted from the Concorde disaster near Paris.

The driver of the Land Rover, Gary Hart, of Strubby, Lincolnshire, was later convicted of causing death by dangerous driving and jailed for five years.

The inquest continues today.