13 POLISH TOURISTS KILLED AND 34 INJURED WHEN COACH CRASH NEAR BERLIN

BERLIN, Germany - At least 13 Polish tourists were killed and 34 injured, 16 seriously, when the coach in which they were travelling crashed near Berlin yesterday.
The crash occurred when the 37-year-old driver of a Mercedes lost control of her car and rammed the coach carrying 47 passengers, mostly forestry workers from Zlocieniec in western Poland returning from a holiday in Spain.

• The coach reportedly skidded and collided with the pillar of a motorway bridge near Berlin’s Schönefeld airport.
• The driver of the car and a passenger are among those in a critical condition.
• Polish prime minister Donald Tusk travelled to the accident scene yesterday evening after German chancellor Angela Merkel called him to express her condolences.
• Visibly shaken, Mr Tusk thanked German rescuers. All I can say is many thanks for your efforts, your help, he toldreporters in German at a Berlin hospital.
• Investigators said poor driving conditions, including fog and a slick road surface caused by heavy rain, were a likely factor in the incident. Nearly 300 police and rescue teams worked to rescue survivors from wreckage of the silver coach.
• The most seriously injured were airlifted to hospital while those with mild injuries were treated at the scene. One psychologist told a Berlin radio station she found some survivors “wandering the motorway” when she arrived.
• Many rescue workers were distraught by the sight of mangled bodies that awaited them inside the bus “It’s a sight one doesn’t forget,” said Marko Behrens, fire service chief and head of the 150-man rescue team.

Police declined to name victims until relatives had been informed. The crash-scene meant the A10 motorway, an important east-west artery leading to Frankfurt Oder and the Polish border, was blocked until the evening.
A Polish government aircraft was sent to bring the dead home, while two coaches were sent for those who escaped injury.

Source: IRISH TIME