Five Ukrainians, three women and two men, died in a bus crash in Poland on the night of March 5 and not six as it has been previously reported, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.
The bus, carrying 55 passengers and two drivers, crashed into a fence and rolled off a viaduct near the village of Kasice in the Kasice region while heading to the southern Polish border with Ukraine.
Of the 39 people injured in the accident, 28 remained hospitalized as of the morning of March 7. Nine are in serious condition. The remaining 24 passengers have already been returned to Ukraine.
The vehicle with Ukrainian plates was on a 20-hour trip from Poznan in Poland to Kherson in Ukraine when the bus driver lost control of his vehicle, flew into a ditch and overturned, according to a statement on the website of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.
The representative of the Przemysl ambulance service Marek Jankowski told Polish media that three Ukrainians died on the spot.
Many passengers were not wearing seat belts, Jankowski said. When the bus hit the fence, people were thrown around the cabin, resulting in multiple injuries to the head, spine, abdomen and limbs.
One bus driver was still in the hospital for his injuries at the time of publication. The other driver was questioned by the police as a witness. Both drivers were sober according to the police, who didn’t find drugs in their blood.
According to Beata Stazhetska, deputy district prosecutor in Przemysl, authorities opened an investigation into the crash but haven’t announced charges so far.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed condolences to the victims’ families on Twitter on March 6.
“We are doing our best to provide assistance,” he wrote.
Ukrainian diplomats went to the scene of the accident to coordinate with local authorities on the morning of March 6 and thanked Polish rescuers for their help, Oleg Nikolenko, the press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine wrote on Twitter on March 6.
“Everyone is provided with the necessary medical and consular assistance. We are grateful to the Polish side for the prompt response,” Nikolenko wrote.
