Two dead, 26 injured after coach overturns in southern Germany

Two people were killed and around 25 others slightly injured after a coach overturned on the A96 motorway in southern Germany on Sunday, police told dpa. A travel group of 40 to 50 people, mainly from the Philippines, was on board the coach.

A police spokeswoman said one more person was critically injured and in life-threatening condition. The number of injured could rise further.

The accident occurred in the early morning at just before 6 am (0400 GMT) on the A96 motorway near the town of Buchloe in the eastern Allgäu district of Bavaria. It happened between the junctions to the east of Buchloe and to the west of Landsberg am Lech. 

The vehicle veered off the road to the right without the involvement of any other vehicles, overturned at the roadside and came to rest beside a dip along the motorway.

A large contingent of rescue workers was deployed at the scene on Sunday. The motorway was closed in both directions. The public prosecutor's office has commissioned an expert to establish the cause of the accident.

The Swabian town of Buchloe lies directly on the A96 motorway between the Bavarian state capital of Munich and Memmingen.

Coach accidents are a recurring cause of serious incidents. On September 10, five people died when a Dutch coach was involved in an accident in Switzerland. The coach hit a crash barrier and then veered off the road to the right, overturning and coming to rest on its side. 

In the Regensburg district of Bavaria on September 6, 30 people were injured when a car rear-ended a coach and another vehicle in slow-moving traffic, police said.