23 passengers were injured, one of them critically, when a Flixbus headed toward Berlin drove off of the A19 motorway and turned on its side early on Friday morning, according to a police spokesman.
The critically injured passenger was trapped for two hours inside the bus before being freed.Â
The bus was carrying 53 passengers and two drivers from Copenhagen to Vienna in the direction of Berlin.
According to initial reports, two drivers on the bus were uninjured.
The passengers included Germans, Swedes, Danes, Poles, Ukrainians, French, Syrians, Chinese, Australians, Bulgarians, Czechs, Romanians, Turks, Indians, Georgians, Bangladeshis, Italians, Mexicans, Canadians, and Japanese.
The police spokesperson that several people had been seriously injured, but was unable to provide any details. Uninjured passengers were taken to Röbel by another bus.
The accident occurred around 2:40 a.m. at the Röbel junction. Reportedly, the bus veered to the right of the road before overturning.Â
The A19 motorway is expected to remain completely closed in the direction of Berlin until around noon.
Emergency services, the fire department, and rescue helicopters were called to the scene. The public prosecutor's office has called in an expert from DEKRA, a company which conducts vehicle inspections and roadworthiness tests, to investigate.
This incident follows other recent serious Flixbus accidents in Germany. In January, a weather-related Flixbus accident on the A11 in northeastern Brandenburg resulted in the deaths of two people and eleven others were injured.
In March of 2024 a deadly crash near Leipzig resulted in four deaths and led to a manslaughter investigation against the driver.
With reporting by DPA and AFP.
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