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A German pastor working on Madeira is praising the medics who cared for the survivors of the bus crash on the Portuguese island that killed 29 people.

Ilse Everlien Berardo told German broadcaster n-tv Thursday the survivors she spoke to were "very calm. Of course, they were in a state of shock."

The bus carrying 55 people, many of them vacationers from Germany, rolled down a steep hillside Wednesday after veering off the road on a bend east of the capital, Funchal, striking at least one house.

Berardo said the "the nurses and doctors were really touching in the way they dealt with the people."

Berardo said she spoke to one woman who thought she might have lost her partner, adding. "what I can do is hold their hand and show them they're not alone."