Coach carrying tour group from Saxony runs into back of slow-moving lorry on motorway near Bayreuth

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Eighteen people died and 30 others were injured in one of the worst motorway crashes in Germany’s recent history, when a coach burst into flames after a collision with a lorry in Bavaria on Monday.

Police said a group of 46 passengers and two drivers were on the coach when it caught fire after driving into the back of a slow-moving articulated lorry on the A9, which connects Berlin and Munich via Leipzig and Nuremberg.



The group, aged between 41 and 81, had been on the way to Lake Garda, Italy’s largest lake and a popular tourist destination, having departed from the Lausitz region in the east German state of Saxony at 12.30am. Fire services were alerted to the crash at 7am.

“Thirty passengers were taken to hospitals, some with serious injuries. The others are believed to have died in the burning tour bus,” the police said. The vehicle’s driver is believed to be among the dead, while his co-driver survived with serious injuries.

The cause of the fire has been the source of much speculation in the German media, since the coach is believed to have been travelling at a relatively low speed due to a traffic jam when the crash took place.

Local newspaper Frankenpost reported that the lorry, which was loaded with pillows and mattresses, caught fire at the moment of impact.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Several fire engines and ambulances were at the scene. Photograph: Reuters

However, newspaper Bild quoted an insurance expert who cited fire damage to the back of the coach as evidence that the vehicle could already have been on fire at the time of the crash.

The chancellor, Angela Merkel, expressed “great dismay” over the crash, which occurred near Bayreuth, known for its opera festival, which draws thousands of classical music fans every summer.



If the death toll is confirmed the crash will rank as one of the worst in Germany.

Among the deadliest in recent years was a collision in June 2007, when 13 people were killed as their tour bus drove off the road and plunged several metres down a slope in Saxony-Anhalt state.

In September 1992, 21 people died when a bus swerved out of its lane and struck a truck before ramming into the road divider in the southern Black Forest region.