Croatia bus crash – At least 12 tourists killed as bus skids off motorway after driver ‘falls asleep at wheel’
A DOZEN tourists have been killed when a bus skidded off a motorway after the driver is feared to have fallen asleep at the wheel.
At least 12 people have died and 31 have been injured when their coach crashed off off the A4 motorway in Podvorec, around 30 miles north of Zagreb, Croatia.
State TV network HRT reported the driver may have fallen asleep at the wheel ahead the crash.
The bus was carrying people who would heading to a Catholic shrine in southern Bosnia.
The trip was organised by the Brotherhood of St Joseph Catholic group – and it included three priest and six nuns.
“Some of the injured passengers are fighting for their lives,” said Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic.
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The minister said nobody aboard the bus was uninjured – and the wounded have been taken to four different hospitals.
Pictures from the scene show the blue bus almost completely flattened by the impact.
Rescue workers can be seen removing bodies from the crash scene as the investigation begins into exactly what caused the crash.
The driver is understood to be among the dead, reports the BBC.
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Cops were called to the scene after the crash at 5.40am local time on Saturday.
Emergency service crews worked to try and remove people from the horrific wreck.
“All the victims are Polish citizens – we can at this point confirm this,” a Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman told broadcaster TVN24.
“The bus has Warsaw registration plates.”
The road was closed to allow the rescuers to work at the scene.
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he had spoken to his counterpart, who had assured the “full support of Croatian medical services”.
Meanwhile Croatia’s foreign minister expressed his condolences to the victims’ families.
“The Croatian people stand in solidarity with Poland and its citizens,” he tweeted.