Irish and British students are confirmed to be among those injured while travelling on a bus which crashed, killing at least 13 people, near the Spanish city of Tarragona, Freginal, south of Barcelona at around 6am local time, local coordinators have confirmed. Their injures are said to be non-life threatening.
The coach was carrying 56 people, of which at least 43 were injured when the coach collided with a car and overturned on the AP7 highway near Freginals around 6am local time. Two occupants travelling in the car were also injured.
The students were part of the European Union student exchange programme Erasmus and were returning to Barcelona after a trip to a fireworks festival.
The injured are said to be aged between 22 and 29, and according to local media, they are believed to be from Ireland, Britain, Switzerland, Norway, Turkey, Ukraine and Barcelona, local media said.
The driver is being held at a police station in the city of Tortosa, according to Catalonia’s interior minister Jordi Jane. Mr Jane told reporters the coach driver “hit the railing on the right and swerved to the left so violently that the bus veered on to the other side of the highway”.
The bus then hit a car coming in the opposite direction and road conditions were good at the time he said.
The local Catalonian government had urged people who need further information to call +34 900400012.
