In the early hours of Friday, a bus crashed on highway 44, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and injured several people. The heavy passenger vehicle was transporting students from a professional school and returning from a trip to England.
The double-decker bus, carrying 60 people, left the motorway near Werl, entered a ditch and rolled onto its side, local authorities revealed. The crash left 21 people injured, one of which was seriously injured, but not life-threatening.
According to police, the students attend the vocational school in Warburg, on the border with Hesse. So far it is not clear whether only the young people were injured, or also their companions. The bus driver was not injured, despite the bus’s windshield being destroyed.
Investigators are now investigating the circumstances of the crash, considering that it is the second of its kind to happen on German motorways in just a few days.
It is recalled that, on Wednesday morning, a bus also left the carriageway on the A9 motorway, near Leipzig, causing the death of five people. In addition, six people were seriously injured and 29 suffered minor injuries.
In this accident, the Flixbus double-decker bus, which was carrying 52 passengers and two drivers, collided with the shoulder and rolled onto its side. Similar to what happened in the accident in North Rhine-Westphalia, there were no other vehicles involved in this one, according to the information available so far.
Motorway closed
According to police, 21 of the 60 passengers were injured. © Credits: Daniel Schröder/dpa
Following the accident, one direction of the A44 motorway was closed from the Unna Ost exit to Werl. A rescue helicopter was sent to the scene, in addition to several firefighters, who had to straighten the bus to remove it.
In recent years, there have been several serious accidents involving tourist buses in Germany. However, these means of transport are relatively safe, as, according to statistics, road accidents of this type with injuries are rare.
