BERLIN, March 28, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Four people were killed and around 35
injured when a bus overturned on a German motorway near Leipzig on Wednesday,
police said.

The bus came off the A9 motorway in the morning between Wiedemar and the
Schkeuditzer Kreuz junction.

Police had earlier announced the death of five people in the accident, but
revised the toll in the evening.

One person initially reported dead is in a critical condition, police said in
a press statement Wednesday evening.

They said 29 passengers were slightly injured and six were in serious
condition.

German operator Flixbus said the bus was en route from Berlin to Zurich with
52 passengers and two drivers.

"The exact circumstances of the accident are not yet known," Flixbus said in
a statement.

"We are of course working closely with the local authorities and the
emergency services on site and will do everything in our power to clarify the
cause of the accident quickly and completely," it said.

The two drivers both survived, Flixbus added.

Photos showed the bus on its side, having apparently ploughed into trees on
the side of the road.

Emergency services attended to the injured at the scene and the motorway was
closed in both directions, German authorities said.

There were no indications that other vehicles were involved in the crash,
according to the police.

German Transport Minister Volker Wissing said he was "shocked" by the
accident.

"Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and, of course, with all
those affected, and we wish the injured a speedy recovery," he told Welt TV.

Another Flixbus vehicle crashed on the same stretch of motorway in May 2019.

In that accident involving a bus travelling from Berlin to Munich, one person
was killed and more than 60 injured, seven of them seriously.