After a bus accident with more than 20 injuries on Autobahn 44 in North Rhine-Westphalia, investigators are now clarifying how such an accident could have occurred on German highways for the second time within a few days. On Friday night, a group of students from a vocational college had an accident on the way back from a trip to England. Their double-decker coach left the motorway near Werl, drove into the ditch and fell onto its side. According to police, 21 of the 60 occupants were injured and one person suffered serious injuries. No one’s life was in danger, it was said.
On Wednesday morning, a coach on the A9 near Leipzig left the road and fell onto its side – but with much worse consequences: four people were killed. As with the new accident in North Rhine-Westphalia, according to current knowledge, no other vehicles were involved. The investigation into the cause of the accident is still ongoing in both cases.
According to the police, the students from the vocational college in Warburg on the border with Hesse who died in the accident are young adults. It was initially unclear whether only students or accompanying persons were injured. According to the police, the driver of the bus was uninjured and escaped with horror despite the broken windshield. After the accident, the A44 was completely closed on one side from the Unna Ost exits to Werl. According to police, the closure is expected to last until around 9 a.m. The badly damaged bus had to be righted before it could be rescued. In addition to the fire department, a rescue helicopter was also on duty.
In the similar accident on Wednesday on the A9, a double-decker bus from the travel company Flixbus with 52 passengers and two drivers crashed into the grass verge and tipped over on its side. 4 people died, 6 were seriously injured and 29 were slightly injured. The driver is being investigated for negligent homicide and negligent bodily harm. There have been serious coach accidents in Germany in recent years. Nevertheless, buses are one of the relatively safe means of transport. According to accident statistics, they are comparatively rarely involved in traffic accidents with personal injuries.
