Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — A bus carrying Dutch tourists crashed in southern Portugal, killing three tourists and injuring 30 others and the Portuguese bus driver, officials said.
The bus went off a highway Wednesday night and rolled over into a gully, emergency team leader Vitor Vaz Pinto said.
The bus was carrying 33 Dutch tourists who had arrived at Faro airport in Portugal's Algarve region, one of Europe's most popular vacation destinations, he said. Authorities have spoken to the driver, but he declined to speculate on the possible cause of the crash, which is under investigation, he said.
Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders called the crash "a terrible event and my sympathy goes out to the victims and next of kin."
The Dutch ambassador in Lisbon was heading to the Algarve and Foreign Ministry staff from The Hague also were flying to Portugal to help families of the victims, a ministry spokeswoman said.
Vaz Pinto said 156 rescue workers, 101 emergency vehicles and two helicopters helped out at the scene of the crash, which happened around 11 p.m. (2200 GMT).
____
Mike Corder in The Hague contributed.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
