12 killed as Polish bus overturns in Hungary

BUDAPEST: An accident on a Hungarian highway claimed the lives of 12 people and left at least 10 others with serious injuries early Sunday morning. The Polish bus, en route from Serbia to Poland, collided with the M3 highway near Mezokeresztes, east of Budapest, according to a police statement. The vehicle, carrying 57 passengers and two drivers, veered off the road, overturned, and came to rest in a ditch, reported the national disaster management agency.

Eleven individuals were pronounced dead at the scene, while one person succumbed to their injuries at a hospital. Thirty-seven passengers sustained minor injuries, with rescuers having to extract some victims through the bus windows. To retrieve the overturned bus, two cranes were employed to lift it out of the ditch. This incident marks the deadliest road accident in Hungary since a train tragedy involving a German tourist bus in 2003, which resulted in 33 fatalities.

In 2002, a Polish bus carrying pilgrims crashed near the town of Balatonszentgyorgy, claiming the lives of 19 people. Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar expressed his condolences to the victims' families on social media, thanking those involved in the rescue efforts. Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski conveyed his sympathy in a post on X, stating that the consular service is coordinating with Hungarian authorities. Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed the death toll of 12.