More than 20 people were injured in the second serious bus accident in Germany within a few days on Autobahn 44 in North Rhine-Westphalia. During the night, a tour group with students from a vocational college in Warburg had an accident on the border with Hesse. They were on their way back from a trip to England. Their double-decker coach left the motorway near Werl, drove into an embankment and fell onto its side.
According to the police's initial findings, the accident was preceded by a medical emergency suffered by the 53-year-old bus driver. No other vehicles were involved in the accident.
According to the police, a total of 21 passengers were injured, one of them seriously but not life-threatening. Ambulances took the injured to nearby hospitals. 39 passengers remained uninjured. A large number of firefighters and police were on site. The bus driver also received medical attention. According to the information, the driver was not physically injured in the accident, although the windshield of the bus was destroyed. There was no evidence of alcohol consumption or drugs, said a police spokesman. Investigations are being carried out in all directions.
According to the police's initial findings, the bus had veered off the road to the right. There he crashed into the protective barrier protruding from the ground and fell onto his side on the embankment. An accident investigation team worked at the scene of the accident until early in the morning, said a police spokesman. The traces would now be evaluated.
The police seized the badly damaged double-decker and had it transported away. The road in the direction of Kassel was closed for hours between the Unna and Werl junctions and was reopened on Friday morning.
Two days earlier: Four dead in bus accident on A9
On Wednesday morning, a double-decker coach on the A9 near Leipzig left the road and fell onto its side - but with much worse consequences: four people were killed and more than 30 passengers were injured. As with the accident in North Rhine-Westphalia, according to current knowledge, no other vehicles were involved.
In the accident on the A9, a double-decker bus from the travel company Flixbus with 52 passengers and two drivers crashed into the grass verge and overturned on its side. The driver is being investigated for negligent homicide and negligent bodily harm.
