Officials in Germany say several people have been confirmed dead after a tour bus collided with a truck and burst into flames in the southern state of Bavaria. At least 30 people were injured in the crash.
Forty-eight people were traveling on the bus when it slammed into a semitrailer near the Bavarian town of Münchberg early Monday, police said. Up to 18 people are feared dead.
“Thirty passengers were taken to hospitals, some with serious injuries. The others are believed to have died in the burning tour bus,” police said in a statement.
Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced “great dismay” at the crash.
“Unfortunately numerous people…lost their lives in this burning bus,” Seibert told a news conference. “Our thoughts go to the victims and their family members, as well as to the injured. We hope that those who have been rescued will recover from their injuries.”
Forensic specialists have been sent to the site to remove and identify the bodies from the charred vehicle.
Local mayor: ‘This is just catastrophic’
Footage broadcast on German television showed a burnt-out bus wreck on the A9 highway with helicopters, ambulances, fire brigade trucks and 200 rescue workers on the scene. Police said the roadway’s southbound lanes would remain closed for the rest of the day.
The mayor of the nearby town of Stammbach, Karl Philipp Ehrler, told the German Press Agency it was the worst accident the community had experienced.
“It’s madness. This is just catastrophic,” he said.
Holiday ends in tragedy
The coach went up in flames after it plowed into the truck at the end of a traffic jam shortly after 7 a.m. local time (0500 UTC). There was no immediate information about what happened to the truck driver.
Police said the tour group of German senior citizens was from the eastern state of Saxony. According to the Bild newspaper, they were heading for Nuremberg.
The A9 motorway connects several popular holiday spots in the southern German region, which is known for its castles and hot spas.
The crash, at the start of the Europe’s summer holiday season, follows a fatal accident in January in which a Hungarian bus traveling through Italy burst into flames, killing 16 students. In October 2015, 43 people died when a coach collided with a truck and caught fire near Puisseguin in southwest France – the country’s worst road accident in three decades.
DW
