Foreign students dead in Spain bus crash
AAP on March 21, 2016, 8:08 am
At least 13 people were killed when a bus carrying foreign university students crashed between the Spanish cities of Valencia and Barcelona, authorities say.
The students were from at least 19 countries, including many from Europe, as well as New Zealand and Japan.
The authorities have yet to give the nationalities of the dead.
Eight of the 61 passengers aboard were seriously injured in the crash early on Sunday.
Many of the students were part of the Erasmus exchange program between European universities, emergency services in northeastern region of Catalonia said.
Regional leader, Carles Puigdemont, told a local radio station that all the victims were women.
The bus crashed and overturned on a road that runs along Spain's eastern coast. After swerving onto the other side of the road, it had hit an oncoming car, injuring the two passengers.
The bus, which was carrying 61 passengers according to estimates from the authorities, was driving away from Valencia on the last weekend of the Fallas festival, known for its big firework displays.
"There were students on board, many of them foreign students studying in Catalonia and in Barcelona who had travelled to Valencia for the Fallas and were returning," Jordi Jane, Catalonia's regional interior minister said at a televised news conference.
He said the victims were all aged between 22 and 29.
The driver had been taken to a local police station, Jane said. The cause of the accident was not immediately clear but was most likely due to "human error", he said.
The driver had tested negative for alcohol and drugs, a Catalan court said in a statement.
Catalonia's emergency services said passengers on board included students from New Zealand, Hungary, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Britain, Italy, Peru, Bulgaria, Poland, Ireland, the Palestinian Territories, Japan, Ukraine, Holland, France and Finland.
