March 20, 2016•Update: March 28, 2016
By Alyssa McMurtry
MADRID
Thirteen people were killed and dozens others, including at least one Turkish national were injured in an accident involving a bus packed with university exchange students in north-east Spain early Sunday morning, according to Spanish media reports.
Spanish daily El Mundo said the students were returning from a popular festival when their bus carrying at least 56 passengers crashed near Tarragona.
El Mundo added that three injured were in critical condition, while nine others remain in serious condition.
Turkey’s consul general in Barcelona, Emir Salim Yuksel, met the injured Turkish student at a hospital.
The Turkish student has suffered mild injuries and is expected to be released from the hospital within two to three days, AA has learnt.
The popular “Las Fallas” festival in Valencia is famous for its fireworks and burning of huge paper-mache monuments.
The driver of the bus was almost at the halfway point between Valencia and its destination of Barcelona, when, at approximately 6 a.m. (0500 GMT), the driver grazed the right-hand barrier of the highway, took a sharp turn, causing the vehicle to swerve across the highway meridian and crash into an oncoming car, according to state officials.
The victims were aged between 22 and 29, Jordi Jane, Catalan interior minister, said in a televised press conference Sunday.
“The majority are Erasmus students of various nationalities. We are trying to draw up a list of the victims,” Jane said.
“It’s possible that the 13 dead are women,” Spainish Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz told Spain’s state broadcaster.
Fernandez confirmed that the number of dead had decreased from the initial government reports of 14 to more recent reports of 13.
Forty-three people were injured in the accident. As of 1.30 p.m. (1230GMT), Fernandez confirmed that 21 injured have been released and 28 continue being treated in hospital.
“We will know more after an investigation, but it appears that the cause was human error,” Jane added.
This bus was one of five belonging to the same company returning passengers from the Valencia festival, said local media reports.
The driver was not seriously injured and was taken in for questioning in a police station near the accident. A drug and alcohol test found the driver had not been intoxicated at the time of the crash, according to Fernández.
“My condolences to the families and the victims, and wishes for the speedy recovery of the injured,” tweeted Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
