6 dead after bus plunges off bridge into river in Spain
- Two survivors – the driver and a passenger – were pulled from the water by firefighters and taken to hospital
- Heavy rains sweeping the region caused the river to overflow, hampering search-and-rescue operations
Six people died and two were injured after a passenger bus careered off a bridge and plunged into an overflowing river in northwestern Spain, emergency services said on Sunday.
Two survivors – the vehicle’s 63-year-old driver and a female passenger – were pulled out of the river by firefighters with rope and taken to nearby hospitals with varying degrees of injury.
The driver tested negative for alcohol and drugs, a police spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that the search-and-rescue operation around the bridge had now concluded, while engineers attempted to find a way to safely recover the wreckage from the river Lerez.
The river’s strong current and high flow due to heavy rains sweeping the Galicia region hampered efforts to retrieve the bodies throughout the weekend.