Bus swerves off road in Croatia; 10 killed, 45 injured

Zagreb (Croatia), July 25

A bus swerved off a highway and crashed in Croatia early Sunday, killing 10 people and injuring at least 45 others, police said.

The crash happened around 6 am (0400 GMT; 12 am EDT) near the town of Slavonski Brod on the highway between the capital, Zagreb, and the Serbian border.

Photos from the scene showed the bus on the side in the grass near the edge of the road. Firefighters and rescuers could be seen around the bus while traffic on the highway was halted.

Police said the bus had Kosovo license plates and was on a regular route from Germany to Kosovo capital Pristina, which is located south of Serbia. The cause of the crash wasn’t immediately known.

Local police chief Franjo Galic said the bus was full, with more than 60 people on board. He described the crash as “one of the worst accidents I have ever seen.”  The 45 injured were transferred to the hospital in Slavonski Brod. Hospital chief Josip Samardzic said eight people had serious injuries.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether there were any children on the bus.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic expressed “sadness and grief” and extended his condolences to the relatives of the people who died in the crash and the people of Kosovo.

“We hope the injured will recover,” Plenkovic tweeted.

State-run HRT television reported that Croatia’s government officials were on their way to the scene.

The highway where the crash happened is a key traffic artery through Croatia which is busy over the summer because of tourism and foreign workers travelling home from Western Europe. — AP