Nine killed and 21 injured in Spain bus accident

Nine people have died and five are seriously injured after a bus careered off the road near the town of Avila, central Spain.

Local news reports say the bus, which was carrying around 30 passengers, rolled over after travelling at excessive speed on a bend along the N-403 highway south of Avila.

Paramedic crews who arrived on the scene rescued several passengers who had become trapped in the wreckage.

"We confirm nine dead, five seriously injured and more than 10 slightly injured in the bus crash," said an emergency services spokesman for the region of Castile and Leon.

The commuter bus, from a local company called Cevesa, was serving the route Serranillos-Ávila, from South to the North of the province of Avila.

Several drivers passing by alerted the authorities around 8.30 am about the accident. Pictures of the scene show the bus lying by the side of the road with the front windscreen smashed and most of the windows missing.

Four bodies lay on the N-403 road, completely covered in white sheets or silver foil.

Emergency services workers in black helmets and tunics carried one person away in a stretcher and several other people, apparently shocked passengers, sat on the kerb nearby.

The families of the victims have been taken to Avila, to the Carlos Sastre Sports Center, where a team of social workers and psycologists are providing medical attention and support.

There is no information about the nationalities of the victims but early indications are the passengers are from the villages located along the bus route.

Monday 8 July 2013

http://news.sky.com/story/1112830/nine-killed-and-21-injured-in-spain-bus-crash