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Agence France-Presse

Fourteen people were killed and 43 injured on Sunday when a bus carrying foreign students crashed in northeastern Spain, regional authorities in Catalonia said.
The students were enrolled at Barcelona University as part of the European Erasmus exchange programme, said Jordi Jane who heads interior matters for the Catalonia region.
The accident occurred near the small town of Freginals, about 150km south of Barcelona as the bus was returning from a traditional festival in the eastern city of Valencia.
The driver “hit the railing on the right and swerved to the left so violently that the bus veered onto the other side of the highway”, Jane said.
The bus then hit a vehicle coming in the opposite direction, injuring two people inside, he added.
The bus was carrying 57 people in all, including the driver.
Of the 43 injured, 30 have been rushed to hospital, Jane said.
Spain’s national radio station RNE spoke to the son of the owner of the company that chartered the bus, only giving his first name Raul.
His father was driving another bus in front of the one that crashed.
“All of a sudden, he stopped seeing it in his rear-view mirror. He stopped at the next service area, called the driver but he didn’t pick up,” Raul said.
The son added that his father then asked passengers in his own bus to call those in the other vehicle, and that is when he got news of the accident.
“The driver is in a state of shock, but he’s OK physically,” he added.

The accident is one of the deadliest in Spain in the past years.
In November 2014, a bus carrying pilgrims fell into a ravine in the southeast, leaving 14 dead and another 41 injured.
Catalonia’s newly-elected president Carles Puigdemont was due to travel to Paris on Sunday but has cancelled the trip to go to the site of the accident.


At least 14 dead, dozens injured after coach carrying foreign students crashes in Spain

Emergency services personnel stand at the scene of a bus accident on the AP7 highway that links Spain with France halfway between Valencia and Barcelona. Photo: AP

Emergency services personnel stand at the scene of a bus accident crashed on the AP7 highway that links Spain with France along the Mediterranean coast near Freginals halfway between Valencia and Barcelona early Sunday, March 20, 2016. A bus carrying university students back from a fireworks festival crashed Sunday on a main highway in northeastern Spain, killing 14 passengers and injuring 30 others, a Catalonian official said. (AP Photo)

Emergency services personnel stand at the scene of a bus accident crashed on the AP7 highway that links Spain with France along the Mediterranean coast near Freginals halfway between Valencia and Barcelona early Sunday, Spain, March 20, 2016. The bus was reportedly hired out to carry students to and from a fireworks festival in Valencia and was on the return leg of its journey when the accident happened. (AP Photo)

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