BERLIN – At least 12 people have died after a coach carrying Polish tourists crashed near Berlin, German police say.
The bus, carrying about 50 people, came off the A10 motorway at Schoenefelder Kreuz, about 30km (20 miles) from Berlin.
Seven people were severely injured, while 27 others were less badly hurt in the crash yesterday morning.
Initial investigations indicated the bus was forced off the road by a car joining the motorway, a police spokesman said.
To visit scene
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk is to visit the scene of the crash accompanied by Minister of Health Ewa Kopacz, a government spokesman said.
“At the moment, we know that a car lost control when he approached the A10,” said German police spokesman Jens Quitschke.
“He collided with a Polish travel coach on the way back home from Spain. The bus driver also lost control and crashed into [a] bridge support.”
Police and fire crews – about 250 in number – were despatched from Berlin and the surrounding region.
Helicopters lifted the most seriously injured to hospital, while the rest were treated at the scene in tents put up by emergency services.
The bus was returning to Poland from a holiday tour of Spain.
German officials are setting up an information point for the Polish relatives of the victims.
(BBC)
