Hungary bus crash kills eight, injures dozens

Police a bus traveling on a highway in Hungary crashed through a guardrail and tipped over early Sunday

Hungary Bus Crash (MTVA - Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund)

A bus traveling on a highway in Hungary crashed through a guardrail and tipped over early Sunday, killing at least eight people and injuring dozens, police said.

The crash occurred on Hungary's M7 highway near the town of Szabadbattyan, between the capital, Budapest and Lake Balaton, at just before 5 a.m. Sunday morning. The bus had Hungarian license plates and was in the lane traveling toward Budapest.

Pal Gyorfi, a spokesman for the national ambulance service, told Hungarian news agency MTI that in addition to the eight deaths, another eight people sustained serious injuries and 40 had minor injuries.

The bus broke through a guardrail and collided with a bridge pillar, according to Anett Szabo-Bisztricz, a spokesperson for the Fejer County Directorate-General for Disaster Protection. Firefighters worked to free 14 people trapped in the bus, while the rest were able to leave the bus on their own, she said.

News site Hvg.hu reported that the bus was transporting Hungarians from summer holidays in Croatia and had departed from the Croatian island of Krk late Saturday. It said the bus driver was among the dead.

Writing on Facebook on Sunday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban expressed his “sincere condolences to the families of the victims.”

“Let us look after each other on the roads,” Orban added.