The polish driver of their coach lost control of the double-decker vehicle shortly after the german-french border on tuesday morning. Shortly afterwards it overturns.
According to the authorities, the accident was probably caused by a too abrupt lane change near the alsatian city of mulhouse (german: mulhausen). The driver allegedly tried to take a freeway exit at the last second. He was taken into police custody. Initial alcohol and drug tests were negative.
According to official reports, six seriously injured people were in danger of death and were flown to hospitals by helicopter. 150 rescue workers and 60 gendarmes were deployed to treat the numerous injured and clear the accident site on the A36 motorway. According to the authorities, a total of 65 passengers were on board, most of them from poland. In addition, there were two drivers and an accompanying person.
Five people were initially missing. Investigators suspected undocumented ukrainian seasonal workers may have been among the travelers who fled after the accident. According to the regional newspaper "dernieres nouvelles d’alsace", the other passengers were mainly harvest workers on their way to the wine harvest in france.
The bus had started early in the morning in the western polish border town of slubice. After driving through germany with several stops in between, he was supposed to drive to the southern french mediterranean cities of marseille and nice.
The ministry of the environment in warsaw has set up a hotline for passengers who want to inquire about the fate of the passengers. The polish consulate in lille spoke of 40 injured people. The trip was organized by the polish tour operator sindbad, which offers trips to numerous european countries.
The bus itself was provided by the company albatros from przemysl in southeastern poland. The latter also wanted to send replacement vehicles to the scene of the accident near the town of mulhouse. The travel company sindbad emphasized in a statement that the bus used for the trip had fulfilled all technical conditions.
Bus accidents repeatedly result in numerous injuries and deaths. Just a few hours before the accident in alsace, three people lost their lives in the english county of surrey. The bus, with 51 passengers on board, was on its way to the airport at around 23:00.50 o’clock against a tree at the edge of the road and had subsequently overturned.
At the beginning of the month, a fully loaded vehicle plunged into a ravine in morocco. 42 people were dragged down with them to their deaths. On 13. Marz, 28 people died in a swiss tunnel, most of them belgian schoolchildren on a class trip to switzerland.