Twelve people were killed and dozens injured when a Polish-registered tourist bus veered off a motorway and overturned in eastern Hungary early on Sunday, Hungarian authorities said.
The bus ran into a ditch and tipped onto its side on the M3 motorway near the town of Mezokeresztes, about 140km east of Budapest, while heading towards the city of Nyiregyhaza. Eleven people died at the scene and a twelfth died in hospital. Ten people were seriously injured and 37 sustained minor injuries, Al Jazeera reported.
State news agency MTI said there were 57 passengers and two drivers aboard. Al Jazeera reported the vehicle was travelling from Serbia to Poland. Images from the scene showed a badly damaged red bus lying on one side in a ditch beside the motorway, its windows smashed and luggage scattered across the ground.
Driver fatigue suspected
“A Polish-registered bus travelling on the M3 motorway towards Nyiregyhaza … veered off the straight stretch of road into a ditch and overturned. Preliminary information suggests the driver likely fell asleep,” police said in a statement. The driver was taken into custody.
Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar announced the deaths in a Facebook post on Sunday morning, offering condolences to the families and thanking rescue workers.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki said on X: “It is with deep sorrow that I received the tragic news of the Polish bus accident in Hungary, in which so many of our compatriots died.”
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski described it as a “tragic accident” involving a bus carrying Polish tourists. “The consular service is operational. We are in contact with the Hungarian authorities. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will provide verified information,” he said, according to Daily Mirror’s report of Reuters copy.
It is Hungary’s deadliest road accident since 2003, when a train struck a bus and killed 33 people.
