Hungary bus crash kills 19 pilgrims

The top of the coach was crushed by the impact

Nineteen Polish pilgrims have been killed and 32 injured in a coach crash near Hungary's Lake Balaton holiday resort.

Hungarian officials said the Polish tourist bus had driven into a roundabout, slid off the road and then overturned.

I felt terrible pain... I crawled out and screamed at people to follow me

Dorota Gonet
Survivor

The bus was travelling from Stoczek, a small town near Lublin in eastern Poland, to Medjugorje, a shrine to the Virgin Mary in south-east Bosnia.

It came off the road shortly after 0100 local time (2300 Sunday GMT) near the village of Balatonszentgyorgy, about 120 kilometres (70 miles) south of the capital, Budapest.

Two children were among the dead, officials said.

Survivors described the terror and pain at the moment of impact.

"The bus rocked, tilted deeply on one side - as if passing around something. Then it drove onto something and turned over," said journalist Dorota Gonet, who suffered spinal injuries.

"I felt terrible pain. A window right by me was smashed out and I crawled out and dragged out a girl with me. I screamed at people to follow me."

It looks as if the driver failed to realise he was driving into a roundabout

Ferenc Vas
Policeman

Police believe it is unlikely the driver fell asleep at the wheel, but are focusing their inquiry on the speed at which the coach was travelling. Officials said the bus hit the junction at 80km/h (50mph).

"It slid to the shoulder and then into a deep pit along the road, turning upside down," said police spokesman Ference Vas.

"We found no trace of braking. It looks as if the driver failed to realise he was driving into a roundabout," he said.

Officials from the emergency services said 16 ambulances transported the injured to five nearby hospitals.

Some of the passengers have horrific injuries

One was said to be critically ill, 17 were severely hurt and 14 had slight injuries.

The injured were taken to hospitals at nearby Marcali and Keszthely.

Pal Gyoerfi of the national ambulance service told French news agency AFP that everybody on the bus was either killed or injured.

"It was perhaps the country's worst road crash in decades," he said.

Officials said the top of the bus had been sheared away by the force of the impact. Rescue workers had to crawl inside the twisted wreckage to give first aid and release people.

No other vehicle appears to have been involved.

Lake Balaton, around 200km (130 miles) south-west of Budapest, is Hungary's main resort and a popular destination for tourists from neighbouring countries.