Hungary’s worst bus accident in decades that killed 19 Polish pilgrims and wounded 32 others the previous day, at the Balaton Lake. Although some newspapers speculated that the driver fell asleep behind the wheel, investigators cautioned that he may simply not have noticed the roundabout near the village Balatonszentgyorgy, about 120 kilometres (70 miles) south of the capital, Budapest.
Polish Infrastructure Ministry official Mieczyslaw Muszynski, who led a Polish team of experts to Hungary said the driver of the bus was not drunk and did not fall asleep, the Hungarian News Agency MTI reported. He was reportedly taken to hospital with serious injuries.
CONFUSING CONJUNCTION
Myszynski stressed that the bus was in excellent technical condition, when it came of the road around 0100 hours local time on Monday July 1, MTI said. "It was perhaps the country’s worst road crash in decades," stressed Pal Gyoerfi, an official of the national ambulance service, speaking to reporters.
Experts described the crash location as a very confusing conjunction, an opinion apparently shared by some police officials. "It slid to the shoulder and then into a deep pit along the road, turning upside down," explained police spokesman Ferenc Vas. "We found no trace of braking. It looks as if the driver failed to realize he was driving into a roundabout," he added. Drivers have often complained about a lack of good highways in the region where cars often compete with horses and bicycles.
Travelling from Stoczek, a small town near Lublin in eastern Poland, the bus was bound for Medjugorje, a shrine to the Virgin Mary in south-east Bosnia. The bus carried 51 passengers, most of them Polish Catholics, including priests, monks and several children.
TERROR AND PAIN
Out of the four priests and monks who organized the trip, two died and two were in hospital with serious injuries, said the charge d ‘affairs of the Budapest Polish embassy Roman Kowalski in an interview. Two children were also among the dead, according to police investigators.
Those who survived the crash, described the terror and pain at the moment of impact. "The bus rocked, tilted deeply on one side – as if passing around something. Then it drove onto something and turned over," said journalist Dorota Gonet, who suffered spinal injuries.
"I felt terrible pain. A window right by me was smashed out and I crawled out and dragged out a girl with me. I screamed at people to follow me."
CHARTERED PLANE
The Polish Government, which send a chartered plane to bring relatives and pick up some of the wounded, described the accident as a national tragedy for the mainly Catholic nation of nearly 39 million people.
Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy has said that Hungary is ready to pay for Poles to travel to the country to visit their hospitalized relatives. He also telephoned his counterpart Leszek Miller to convey his condolences.
Hungary’s President Ferenc Madl cabled his sympathy to Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski.
