Bus crash on Hungarian highway kills twelve Polish…
Twelve people died and dozens more sustained injuries after a bus carrying Polish pilgrims veered off a motorway in Hungary and crashed into a ditch early Sunday.
Police said the bus overturned after leaving the M3 motorway, which links the Hungarian capital Budapest with the northeastern city of Nyíregyháza, at around 1:00 a.m. local time, or 2300 GMT Saturday. Investigators believe the driver fell asleep at the wheel, and he has since been taken into custody.
State media reported that firefighters have rescued 35 of the 57 passengers and two drivers who were aboard the bus. According to the Hungarian news agency MTI, emergency crews initially worked to lift the rear axle of the 24 tonne vehicle to free people trapped underneath before cranes arrived on scene to lift the entire bus.
Hungary’s ambulance service said it treated one person with life threatening injuries, nine others with serious injuries and 37 more with minor injuries following the crash.
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar offered his condolences to the victims’ families and wished the injured a swift recovery. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk echoed those sentiments and said he had ordered a special Polish aircraft carrying foreign ministry officials and medical personnel to travel to the scene, saying Poland stands together with those affected during the difficult moment.
The bus had been returning from Bosnia and Herzegovina and was carrying pilgrims from Poland’s southernmost region of Podkarpacie, according to the Polish news agency PAP. Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said his Hungarian counterpart informed him that police had already begun questioning the driver as part of the investigation into the crash.