Bus crash in Germany kills nine and injures more than 40

Three-bus crash happened on autobahn near Dresden

Aerial view shows the accident site of a bus crash on the A4 motorway linking Poland and Germany near the Neustadt district in Dresden, eastern Germany, on July 19, 2014. At least nine people were killed and dozens hurt, police said, as a coach carrying P ( Matthias Hiekel/AFP/Getty Images)

Nine people have been killed and 43 injured in Germany after a bus crashed on the autobahn near the city of Dresden.

Dresden police said the crash, which happened in the early hours of Saturday morning, involved a Polish bus, a Ukrainian bus and a Polish minibus.

Police have undertaken a preliminary investigation which suggests that the Polish bus hit the rear of the Ukrainian bus, which then broke through the central barrier and crashed into the oncoming Polish minibus.

Six of those killed were Polish citizens, Dresden police said. A spokesperson for the police, Lutz Zoellnew, said he was unable to immediately provide details about the victims, but German public broadcaster MR reported that the majority of people who died are thought to have been on the minibus.

The injured people have been taken to hospitals in Dresden and Radebeul.

Additional reporting by Associated Press