A bus carrying 33 Slovak holiday-makers from Prešov to Bulgaria crashed in Romania on Tuesday, August 4, injuring 12 passengers, two seriously, Slovakia Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Peter Stano said on August 5.
"The accident took place near the village of Calimanesti, which is in southern Romania, on the road to Bucharest. 12 people were injured, two of them seriously. They were admitted to a hospital in Sibiu. No one was killed. Our consul is on his way to the site of the crash, and he will also go to the hospital to talk to the people. The embassy is continuing to look into the situation, and is in touch with the local authorities," he added.
The accident occurred when an oncoming lorry suddenly crossed into the path of the bus. The driver of the coach managed to avoid a head-on collision with the lorry and went off the road into a field, but the lorry's semi-trailer hit the left side of the bus, reported TV Markiza's news website tvnoviny.sk.
Apart from two holidaymakers who remain in hospital and another two who plan to return home, the other passengers were waiting for a spare coach to take them to their destination in Bulgaria. Stano added that eight injured people who had to seek medical help have already been released. The driver of the coach and one passenger, who both sustained severe injuries, remain in hospital in Sibiu. The medical and repatriation costs of the holidaymakers injured during the accident will be covered, Allianz-Slovenská Poisťovňa spokesperson Lucia Muthová told the TASR newswire. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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