Twelve killed as tourist bus crashes in Hungary

Twelve people have been killed after a Polish tourist bus crashed in Hungary.

The vehicle left the road, went into a ditch and overturned around 1am local time on Sunday (midnight UK time).

The bus was travelling on the M3 motorway, near the town of Mezokeresztes, around 90 miles east of the capital Budapest, when the incident happened.

Ten other people were seriously injured in the crash.

The driver likely fell asleep and has since been taken into custody, police said.

There were 57 passengers and two drivers on the bus, according to state news agency MTI.

Pictures from the scene showed the badly damaged vehicle lying on its side next to a ditch in the motorway, with belongings and suitcases scattered nearby.

People injured in the crash have since been taken to hospital.

Polish foreign minister Radosław Sikorski said on X that a "tragic bus accident involving Polish tourists" had taken place, and his ministry was in contact with Hungarian authorities.

All of those on board were Polish citizens, the country's foreign ministry spokesperson Maciej Wewior confirmed.

The bus was travelling from Poland's southeastern Podkarpackie region, and the passengers were returning from a pilgrimage in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki posted: "It is with deep sorrow that I received the tragic news of the Polish bus accident in Hungary, in which so ​many of our ​compatriots died."

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Hungary's prime minister Peter Magyar offered his condolences to the victims' families, and thanked emergency services for their rescue efforts.

Local police said on their website: "A Polish-registered bus travelling on the M3 motorway towards Nyiregyhaza ... veered ​off the straight stretch of road into a ditch and overturned. Preliminary information suggests ‌the ⁠driver likely fell asleep."

(c) Sky News 2026: Twelve killed as tourist bus crashes in Hungary