Polish pilgrimage bus overturns in Hungary, killing 12

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Twelve people were killed and dozens more were injured when a bus transporting Catholic pilgrims back to Poland veered off a Hungarian motorway early Sunday.

Police said the bus overturned after coming off the M3 motorway, which connects Hungary’s capital Budapest with the northeastern city of Nyíregyháza, at around 1:00 a.m. Sunday. Officers have reported that the driver may have fallen asleep at the wheel.

The tour group was returning from Medjugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a popular pilgrimage site for Catholics where multiple visions of the Virgin Mary have been reported.

“I spoke on the phone with the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. I expressed my condolences to the Polish people for the terrible night bus accident,” said Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar on Facebook .

Fifty-seven passengers and two drivers were on the bus, according to Hungarian news agency MTI reports. Emergency services had attempted to lift the rear axle of the 24-ton bus to remove the people trapped underneath before cranes arrived to lift the entire vehicle, the MTI report added.

Hungarian Interior Minister Gábor Pósfai confirmed that the death toll stood at 12, with several of the injured in serious condition, while the driver was taken into custody.