Sleepy Driver Crashes Bus, Kills 10 People
Injures 44 others in Croatia
Police in Croatia said a sleepy driver has reportedly crashed bus killing more than 10 people with about 44 others sustaining various degrees of injuries in the Central and Southeast European nation.
Reports said the bus swerved off a highway and crashed after the driver fell asleep on journey between Frankfurt and Pristina, the capital of Kosovo
According to the police statement, the incident is believed to have happened when the driver fell asleep early on Sunday, at about 6am near the town of Slavonski Brod on the highway between the Croatian capital of Zagreb and the Serbian border, a key artery over the summer due to tourists and workers coming home from western Europe.
Police said the bus had Kosovo licence plates and was travelling from Frankfurt in Germany to Kosovo’s capital of Pristina, to the south of Serbia.
Officials also indicated that the bus was carrying 67 passengers, including children, and two drivers, one of whom died in the crash. The 44 injured were transferred to local hospitals.
Slavonski Brod Hospital Chief, Josip Samardzic said eight people had serious injuries from the accident.
Authorities said the bus driver, who admitted losing control of the vehicle after briefly falling asleep, was detained after giving his statement to the Police.
“He said he fell asleep for a moment,” local deputy prosecutor Slavko Pranjic said, according to Index news site in Croatia.
Police also confirmed the bus slid off the road into the grass before flipping on its side.
Already, the Croatian Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, has expressed “sadness and grief” while extending his condolences to the victims’ relatives and the people of Kosovo.
Similarly, Croatia’s President, Zoran Milanovć, has also offered condolences and wished the injured a speedy recovery.
On his part, Kosovo’s President, Vjosa Osmani, who cut short her stay in Tokyo at the Olympic Games after hearing about the crash, extended her sorrow in a message on Facebook and declared Monday a national day of mourning in Kosovo.
“With our heart and in spirit, we are close to the families who lost their loved ones in this tragedy,” Osmani said. “It is an indescribable pain and a great loss.”
In his reaction to the incident, Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, said: “This is a tragic day for our country and for our people.”
Kurti arrived in Croatia later on Sunday and visited the injured in hospital with the Croatian Prime Minister.
“We are here to be with our citizens,” Kurti said, according to Index. “Hundreds of citizens who live outside Kosovo, they come to Kosovo and our economy depends on this.”
Traffic on the highway was halted for hours before officials eventually removed the bus and reopened one lane for vehicular movement. – With The Guardian reports
