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Twelve dead in Hungary tourist bus crash after driver 'fell asleep at the wheel'

A tourist bus has crashed in Hungary killing 12 people and injuring dozens more with the vehicle having veered off a motorway and into a ditch

[A bus has overturned killing 12 people]

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A bus has overturned killing 12 people(Image: ZOLTAN MATHE/EPA/Shutterstock)

Twelve people have been killed and dozens more are injured after a tourist bus crashed on a motorway in Hungary with police saying it was likely the driver fell asleep.

The Polish bus was travelling eastbound near the town of Mezokeresztes when it overturned on the M3 motorway around 87 miles east of Hungarys capital, Budapest, at around 1am on Sunday.

Emergency services tried to lift the rear axle of the 24-tonne bus to remove passengers trapped underneath before cranes arrived to move the whole vehicle, according to local reports.

In a statement, police said it was likely that the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel, causing the accident, and that he had been taken into custody.

[Emergency services at the scene following the crash]

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Emergency services at the scene following the crash(Image: Zoltan Mathe/MTI via AP)

Hungary's disaster management service said at 3am that emergency services were able to rescue 35 people from the coach but there were others who were trapped underneath it.

Hungarian Prime Minister Pter Magyar confirmed that at least 12 people had died in the accident. He offered his condolences to the families of the victims and thanked rescue workers who were dispatched to the scene.

He wrote: "12 people lost their lives and at least ten were seriously injured during the night, when a Polish coach overturned into a ditch on the M3 motorway."

There were 47 people travelling on the bus according to Hungarian Interior Minister Gbor Psfai, with some of those people who had been rescued seriously injured.

A statement from him read: "In the bus accident overnight on the M3 motorway, a bus with Polish license plate overturned. The police and firefighters went to the scene, as well as civilian assistance arrived to move the injured vehicle.

"According to current information in the accident, 12 people were killed. There were 47 people travelling on the bus, some of them were seriously injured. My sincere condolences to the families of the victims and thank you for the work of those involved in the rescue. The driver of the vehicle who suffered the accident has been taken into custody."

Polish Foreign Minister Radosaw Sikorski wrote in a post on X that a "tragic bus accident involving Polish tourists" had occurred in Hungary and that his ministry was in contact with Hungarian authorities.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki expressed his "deep sorrow" over the accident. "I join the families and loved ones of the victims in prayer and deep sympathy," he wrote in a post on X.

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