Twelve killed as Polish bus veers off Hungarian motorway

What the report says

Twelve people were killed and dozens more injured when a Polish tourist bus left a motorway in Hungary and overturned into a ditch, according to BBC World News. The crash happened in the early hours of Sunday on the M3 motorway, which links Budapest with the north-eastern city of Nyíregyháza. Police said the bus went off the road around 01:00 local time, with officers believing the driver may have fallen asleep. The driver was taken into custody.

Emergency crews worked to reach people trapped under the vehicle, which the report described as a 24-tonne bus. State media said 35 of the 57 passengers, plus two drivers, had been rescued by firefighters at the time of reporting. Hungary’s ambulance service said it treated one person with life-threatening injuries, nine with serious injuries and 37 with minor injuries.

The incident involves a cross-border tourist group and has drawn attention to road safety on a major Hungarian route. Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar offered condolences to the victims’ families and wished the injured a speedy recovery. As reported by BBC World News, the circumstances were still being handled by emergency services and police, and the full toll of the crash had prompted a large rescue effort.