A Polish bus had an accident at 1 a.m. local time (2 a.m. Lithuanian time) on the M3 highway near Mezőkeresztes, east of Budapest, according to a police report.
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The bus, carrying 57 passengers and two drivers, “went off the road, ended up in a ditch, and stopped on its side,” the national disaster management agency reported on social media.
Eleven people died at the scene, and another person died in the hospital, the agency said. According to emergency services, 37 people sustained minor injuries.
Firefighters and other rescuers had to pull some people out through the windows because they were trapped.
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This is the worst traffic accident in Hungary since 2003, when 33 people died after a train collided with a German tourist bus in Siófok.
P. Magyar announced the number of dead on social media.
“I express my sincere condolences to the families of the victims,” he said. “I thank everyone involved in the rescue operation.”
