Polish bus crash in Hungary leaves 12 dead, 10 injured

A Polish bus has overturned on a Hungarian highway killing 12 people and leaving at least 10 with serious injuries, Prime Minister Peter Magyar and officials said.

The coach, heading from Serbia to Poland, crashed at 1am local time (midnight Irish time) on the M3 highway near Mezokeresztes, east of Budapest, according to a police statement.

The bus, with 57 passengers and two drivers, "left the road, ended up in a ditch, and came to a stop on its side," the national disaster management agency said in a social media post.

Eleven people were declared dead at the scene and another person died in hospital, the agency said. The ambulance service said 37 people suffered minor injuries.

The fire brigade and other rescuers had to drag some people out through the windows because they were trapped in the bus.

Two cranes eventually lifted the bus out of the ditch, according to the disaster management agency.

Preliminary information suggests the driver likely ⁠fell asleep," police said on their website.

It is the worst road accident in Hungary since a train hit a German tourist bus at Siofok in 2003, killing 33 people. In 2002, a bus carrying Polish pilgrims crashed near the western town of Balatonszentgyorgy (ouest) killing 19 people.

Mr Magyar announced the death toll of the latest disaster on social media.

"I send my sincere condolences to the families of the victims," he said. "I thank all the people who took part in the rescue operation."

Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski called it a "tragic bus accident involving Polish tourists" in a post on X.

"The consular service is acting. We are in contact with the Hungarian authorities," he added. Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed there were 12 dead.