Hungary bus crash kills 12 Polish pilgrims returning from Bosnia and Herzegovina

Twelve people have been killed after a bus carrying Polish pilgrims overturned on a motorway in Hungary while returning from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Hungarian police said the bus crashed near Mezőkeresztes on the M3 motorway at around 1:00 AM local time after it “went off the straight road into a ditch and overturned”.

Early reports suggested the driver may have fallen asleep. He survived and was taken into custody as authorities investigate the cause of the crash.

The bus was carrying 57 passengers and two drivers from Poland's south-eastern Podkarpackie region. The group had been returning from a pilgrimage to the Catholic shrine of Međugorje.

Poland's foreign ministry said “virtually all” surviving passengers were taken to hospitals in Eger, Debrecen and Miskolc, with 10 people in serious condition.

Hungary's ambulance service said another 37 suffered minor injuries.

“With deep sorrow, I received the tragic news of the accident involving a Polish bus in Hungary, in which so many of our compatriots perished,” Polish President Karol Nawrocki said.

Polish prosecutors from Krosno will lead an investigation into the crash.

Poland's infrastructure minister also announced enhanced inspections of buses and drivers' working hours following the tragedy.