NewzBUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A passenger bus traveling on a highway in Hungary early Sunday went off the road and into a ditch where it overturned, killing 12 and injuring others, police said. The bus, which was carrying a group of Polish tourists, was traveling on eastbound lanes near the town of Mezokeresztes when it overturned on the M3 motorway around 140 kilometers (87 miles) east of Hungary’s capital, Budapest, at around 1 a.m. In a statement, police said it was likely that the driver fell asleep, causing the accident, and that the driver had been taken into custody.
Hungary’s National Directorate for Disaster Management said in a statement that 57 passengers and two drivers were traveling on the bus at the time of the accident, and that several of the passengers had been trapped under the vehicle when it overturned. Polish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maciej Wewiór told Polish news agency PAP on Sunday that all of the people on the bus were Polish citizens. The bus was carrying people from Poland’s southeastern Podkarpackie region who were returning from a pilgrimage in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the regional government in Rzeszow, Poland, said in a Facebook post.
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar wrote in a statement on Facebook that at least 10 people were seriously injured in the crash. He offered his condolences to the families of the victims and thanked rescue workers who were dispatched to the scene. Polish President Karol Nawrocki expressed his “deep sorrow” over the accident, writing in a post on X: “I join the families and loved ones of the victims in prayer and deep sympathy.” ___ Associated Press writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
Twelve people have been killed after a Polish tourist bus crashed in Hungary. Emergency services attend the scene after a tourist bus went off the road and overturned along the M3 motorway between Mezokeresztes and Mezonagymihaly. (EPA Images pic)BUDAPEST: A Polish bus overturned on a Hungarian highway early Sunday killing 12 people and leaving at least 10 with serious injuries, prime minister Peter Magyar and the police said.The coach, heading from Serbia to Poland, crashed at 1am on the M3 highway near Mezokeresztes, east of Budapest, according to a police statement.The bus, with 57 passengers and two drivers, "left the road, ended up in a ditch, and came to a stop on its side," the national disaster management agency said in a social media post.Eleven people were declared dead at the scene and another person died in hospital, the agency said.
The ambulance service said 37 people suffered minor injuries.The fire brigade and other rescuers had to drag some people out through the windows because they were trapped in the bus.It is the worst road accident in Hungary since a train hit a German tourist bus at Siofok in 2003, killing 33 people.Magyar announced the death toll on social media."I send my sincere condolences to the families of the victims," he said. "I thank all the people who took part in the rescue operation." on Sunday, the disaster management service reported that firefighters had so far rescued thirty-five people from the coach, while several passengers had been trapped beneath the vehicle.
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Police say a bus overturned in a ditch in Hungary, killing 12 people and injuring others.
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