A German tourist bus overturned in Trøndelag, central Norway, on Saturday, resulting in several injuries. According to Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, 34 German tourists were on board the bus, with 11 taken to hospital for minor injuries.
The incident occurred while the bus was traveling south on the E6 in Namsskogan. The bus came off the road and overturned in a gentle curve, where the road may be uneven. A freelancer for NRK, Anne Elisabeth Brekkvassmo, described the scene, saying, “The bus is lying on its side in a gentle curve where it appears to have overturned in the bend, where the road may be a bit uneven.”
A trailer driver who was behind the bus for about an hour reported that it had been driving calmly on the road, according to Dagbladet newspaper. Emergency services and volunteers responded to the scene, breaking into the coach with a hammer to assist the passengers. An air ambulance and rescue helicopters were also dispatched to the site.
Elin Torgnes, one of the first to arrive at the scene, described the situation as “a bit chaotic.” She helped with patients and those who were most injured, stating, “There were four of them.”
The municipality of Namsskogan set up a crisis team and arranged for a bus to take the passengers to the municipal care centre. Mayor Elisabeth Vollmo Bjørhusdal stated, “We are prepared to receive those who are less injured and shaken after the accident.”
The E6 was closed and then restricted for several hours after the accident but was reopened to normal traffic flow on Saturday evening after recovery and clearance operations were completed.
The cause of the accident is currently unknown. Jörn Frenzel, the head of the bus company, expressed relief that no one was seriously injured, saying, “These are our best drivers and the bus is nice and new. We don’t know why this happened.”
This incident is not the first serious accident involving tourists in the municipality. In 2014, a Swiss bus overturned on the E6, resulting in the deaths of four people.
Article and image source: thelocal.no
