Several injured in mystery Flixbus crash

A long distance bus crashed on a German highway on Friday injuring 16 people.

The operator Flixbus is one of Europe's major passenger coach operators.

Details of the accident

• The Stockholm-Berlin bus veered off a motorway and ended up in a ditch in north-east Germany.
• Of the 63 people on board, 16 people were injured, six severely so. One passenger had to be cut out of the wreck.
• The driver was not affected by alcohol.
• The A19 motorway was expected to be closed in the direction of the German capital for most of the day.
• No other vehicles were involved in the crash, which occurred on a straight section of road near the town of Linstow.

Read more: Flixbus roof completely torn off by bridge outside Berlin 

Investigation: The German vehicle inspection company DEKRA started investigations as the coach was being removed from the motorway. There are no indications as to why the bus crashed.

Major operator: Since the long distance passenger bus market was deregulated in Germany in 2013, Flixbus has taken control of 80 percent of the German market. In 2017 it carried 40 million passengers, operating out of more than 28 countries.

aw/jm (dpa, AFP)
Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.