Bus crash in eastern Hungary kills 12 Polish tourists

A bus crash in eastern Hungary has killed 12 people and seriously injured 10, police say.

The bus carrying Polish tourists overturned on Sunday on the M3 motorway near the town of Mezokeresztes, 140km (87 miles) east of Hungary’s capital, Budapest.

The bus, travelling from Serbia to Poland, was carrying 57 passengers and two drivers when it drove into a ditch and overturned, police said.

Eleven people were declared dead at the scene, and another person died in hospital, the national disaster management agency said. The ambulance service said 37 people suffered minor injuries.

The fire brigade and other rescue workers had to drag some people out through the windows because they were trapped in the bus.

“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 on their website. They said the bus driver was taken into custody.

Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar offered his condolences to the families of the victims and thanked rescue workers who were dispatched to the scene.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on X: “The consular service is operational. We are in contact with the Hungarian authorities. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will provide verified information.”

Polish President Karol Nawrocki said: “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.”

It is the deadliest road accident in Hungary since 2003 when a train hit a German tourist bus at Siofok, killing 33 people.