Four killed in German bus accident
27 March 2024, 22:34
The vehicle left a major road near Leipzig.
Four people have died after a bus travelling from Berlin to Switzerland came off a major road in eastern Germany and ended up on its side, authorities said.
The accident happened on the A9 highway near Leipzig at about 9.45am local time, less than two hours after leaving Berlin.
The bus en route to Zurich was operated by Flixbus, the dominant long-distance scheduled bus operator in Germany.
Police initially said that at least five people were killed, but later revised the figure to four.
They said a person initially reported to them as dead was in a life-threatening condition.
Six people were seriously injured and 29 lightly injured, they said.
Many people were taken to nearby hospitals.
There were 54 people on board the bus at the time of the crash, including two drivers – a 62-year-old from the Czech Republic and a 53-year-old from Slovakia.
The cause of the accident was not immediately clear.
Police said there was no indication that any other vehicle was involved, and the driver was not among those killed.
Police said late on Wednesday they could not yet give information on the ages and nationalities of the victims, and that the identification of the dead had not yet been completed.
They said they have opened an investigation on suspicion of negligent manslaughter.
The A9 is a major north-south route that links Berlin with Munich.
The accident happened on a straight stretch of the road just north of a highway interchange at Schkeuditz, next to the Leipzig/Halle airport.
