28 killed in accident with tourist bus in Madeira

In an accident with a tourist bus on the Portuguese island of Madeira are in accordance with the local authorities 28 dead and many injured cases. The vehicle hit to a still unknown cause of the way in Caniço, in the southeast of the island, which is approximately 875 kilometres from the Portuguese mainland is located. The killed victims were 11 men and 17 women.

The bus hit on a slope off the road and ended up on a house. According to initial reports, there were 55 German tourists, a guide and a driver in the bus. According to local media, there were already 28 deaths counted. The Portuguese guide and driver, have the accident survived. Together with other wounded, they were transported to the hospital of Funchal, the capital of Madeira, not far west of Caniço.

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“I have no words to describe what happened. I can the suffering of these people do not respect”, responded the mayor Filipe Sousa to the local station SIC. He confirms that all the tourists in the bus Germans were. Possible were there at the accident pedestrian struck, he informed them. the

Other members of the same group of German tourists were in a second bus, which was not involved in the accident, was a spokesman of the civil protection announced at a press conference.

The president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, is traveling tonight to Funchal. From there he will take the situation to follow. According to de Sousa were in the accident also residents of Madeira affected, as possible, when the bus on their property ended up. It is not clear whether those people also effectively died in the accident.

The FPS Foreign Affairs in Brussels has currently no information about any Belgian stakeholders. The embassy in Lisbon will follow the developments, as is learned from deputy spokesman Karl Lagatie.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders expresses via Twitter its condolences.

Toutes nos pensées vont aux matter the l’accident de bus à #Madère , leurs familles et leurs proches. Nous sommes solidaires de nos amis portugais et germans ' gate.