In brief
In the early hours of Sunday, a 24‑tonne Polish bus carrying pilgrims from the Podkarpacie region went off the M3 motorway near Budapest, overturning into a ditch and generating a mass casualty event that left twelve people dead and many more injured. Authorities suspect driver fatigue as the cause, and the driver has been taken into custody. Rescue teams spent hours lifting the rear axle and bringing the vehicle onto cranes while emergency crews treated a range of injuries. Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk offered condolences and sent aid. The incident underscores the need for heightened safety protocols for long‑haul pilgrim transport across Europe.
A 24‑tonne Polish tourist bus carrying pilgrims from the Podkarpacie region skidded off the M3 motorway — the road connecting Budapest with Nyíregyháza — at about 01:00 local time and overturned into a ditch. The disaster left twelve people dead and dozens more injured.
Police say the driver fell asleep at the wheel; he has been taken into custody as investigations continue.
Emergency responders spent hours lifting the rear axle of the vehicle before cranes could lift the entire bus. A total of thirty‑five of the 57 passengers and two drivers have been rescued so far, according to state media reports.
Hungarian ambulance services treated one person with life‑threatening injuries, nine with serious injuries and 37 with minor injuries.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Péter Magyar offered sincere condolences to the families of victims and wished those injured a speedy recovery. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk echoed these sentiments and said he had dispatched a special aircraft staffed by foreign ministry officials and medical teams to support the response.
The bus was returning from a pilgrimage in Bosnia and Herzegovina, carrying tourists from Poland’s southernmost region. Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski reported that his Hungarian counterpart had begun questioning the driver.
