Poland-registered bus veers off Hungary highway, killing 12 people

A Polish bus crashed into a ditch on a Hungarian highway early Sunday killing 12 people and leaving at least 10 with critical injuries, officials said.

The coach, heading from Serbia to Poland, crashed at 01:00am on the M3 highway near Mezokeresztes, about 140 kilometres (85 miles) east of Budapest, according to police.

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.

Hungary's Interior Minister Gabor Posfai said the driver had been detained and media quoted police as saying he had fallen asleep at the wheel.

A Polish diplomat, Andrzej Osiak, told a press conference that five of the injured were fighting for their lives. He said the coach was taking pilgrims back to Poland.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he had ordered a special flight to be sent to collect the passengers on the bus who could travel.

Eleven people were declared dead at the scene and another person died in hospital, the disaster agency said. The ambulance service said 37 people suffered minor injuries and were taken to hospitals in four cities. The highway was closed for several hours.

Worst in 23 years

The fire brigade and other rescuers had to drag some people out through the windows because they were trapped under the crushed roof of the bus.

Two cranes eventually lifted the bus out of the ditch, according to the disaster management agency.

It is the worst road accident in Hungary since a train hit a German tourist bus at Siofok in 2003, killing 33 people. In 2002, a bus carrying Polish pilgrims crashed near the western town of Balatonszentgyorgy, killing 19 people.

Hungary's Prime Minister Peter Magyar announced the death toll of the latest disaster 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."

Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski called it a "tragic bus accident involving Polish tourists" in a post on X.

"The consular service is acting. We are in contact with the Hungarian authorities," he added.

Prime Minister Tusk said "all those affected will receive the necessary medical and consular assistance", as he announced the special flight. "We stand together in this difficult moment".

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)