BERLIN: At least five people were killed and around 20 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.
German operator Flixbus said the bus was on the way from Berlin to Zurich with 53 passengers and two drivers on board.
“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 plowed 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 any 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 traveling from Berlin to Munich, one person was killed and more than 60 injured, seven of them seriously.
Five killed in German motorway bus accident
https://arab.news/ywz4e
Five killed in German motorway bus accident
- German operator Flixbus said the bus was on the way from Berlin to Zurich with 53 passengers and two drivers on board
- “The exact circumstances of the accident are not yet known,” Flixbus said
Macron vows stronger cooperation with Nigeria after mass kidnappings
- Macron wrote on X that France “will strengthen our partnership with the authorities and our support for the affected populations”
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday that France will step up cooperation with Nigeria after speaking with his counterpart, as the West African country faces a surge in abductions.
Nigeria has been wracked by a wave of kidnappings in recent weeks, including the capture of over 300 school children two weeks ago that shook Africa’s most populous country, already weary from chronic violence.
Macron wrote on X that the move came at Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s request, saying France “will strengthen our partnership with the authorities and our support for the affected populations,” while urging other countries to “step up their engagement.”
“No one can remain a spectator” to what is happening in Nigeria, the French president said.
Nigeria has drawn heightened attention from Washington in recent weeks, after US President Donald Trump said in November that the United States was prepared to take military action there to counter the killing of Christians.
US officials, while not contradicting Trump, have since instead emphasized other US actions on Nigeria including security cooperation with the government and the prospect of targeted sanctions.
Kidnappings for ransom by armed groups have plagued Nigeria since the 2014 abduction of 276 school girls in the town of Chibok by Boko Haram militants.
The religiously diverse country is the scene of a number of long-brewing conflicts that have killed both Christians and Muslims, often indiscriminately.
Many scholars say the reality is more nuanced, with conflicts rooted in struggles for scarce resources rather than directly related to religion.
