12 killed as Polish pilgrim bus crashes in Hungary

Twelve people were killed and dozens injured after a bus carrying Polish pilgrims crashed on a motorway in Hungary, early on Sunday August 16.

The bus, carrying 57 passengers and two drivers, left the M3 motorway between Budapest and Nyíregyháza at around 1am local time and overturned in a ditch.

The driver has been taken into custody and is currently being questioned by investigators.

"A Polish-registered bus travelling on the M3 motorway towards Nyiregyhaza ... veered off the straight stretch of road into a ditch and overturned. Preliminary information suggests the driver likely fell asleep," police said on their website.

Emergency crews worked to rescue passengers trapped beneath the 24-tonne vehicle, initially lifting its rear axle before cranes arrived to remove the bus.

Hungary's ambulance service said it treated one person with life-threatening injuries, nine with serious injuries and 37 with minor injuries.

The bus had been returning from Bosnia and Herzegovina and was carrying pilgrims from Poland's southern Podkarpacie region.

Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar offered condolences to the victims' families, while Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Poland would send a special aircraft carrying Foreign Ministry officials and medical personnel.