Bus slams into apartment building in northern Germany, four critically hurt
Twelve people were injured in Bad Oldesloe, Schleswig-Holstein; a child and the trapped driver are among those in life-threatening condition. The cause is unclear.
Graphic: TERRA WORLD NEWS (own graphic based on the sources listed)
Four people, including a child, were in life-threatening condition on Friday after a bus crashed into an apartment building in the northern German town of Bad Oldesloe, the German Press Agency reported, citing police. A spokeswoman said the regular city bus was carrying more than 30 passengers when it struck the wall of the building head-on at about 7:20 a.m. Earlier reports said around 20 children were on board. Police said it was not a school bus but a scheduled service that pupils also use.
According to initial findings, the bus passed a car waiting at a pedestrian crossing on the right and clipped it. It then crossed a grass strip into oncoming traffic, hit another car from the side, drove across a roundabout and left the road. Twelve people were injured in total, nine of them on the bus. The 63-year-old driver was trapped in the vehicle and is among those critically hurt. A resident of the building, a car driver and a first responder suffered minor injuries.
The building was badly damaged and residents were evacuated. After a structural engineer from the federal relief agency THW inspected it, people were allowed back into the undamaged apartments. Police are investigating why the bus left its lane. Bad Oldesloe, a town of about 25,000, lies between Hamburg and Lübeck.