'More Than 30' Dead in Hungary Coach Crash

More than 30 German tourists were feared dead after their double-decker coach was sliced in half by a train in central Hungary today.

The coach was hit by the Budapest to Nagykanizsa train just after 8.30am (0635 GMT) as it crossed a railway line near Siofok, on the shores of Lake Balaton, about 63 miles south-west of Budapest.

The train cut the vehicle in two, dragging one of the sections about 150 metres along the tracks. "The scene is just horrible," a local police spokesman said.

Though the exact cause of the accident was not immediately clear, state railway officials claimed that the crossing signal had been on red when the bus started moving across the tracks.

Tibor Dobson, the head of Hungary's national catastrophe directorate, said that at least 31 people had been killed, all of whom had been travelling in the bus. He said that no passengers on the train had suffered serious injury. However, other officials believed the death toll to be lower. Pal Gyorfi, a spokesman for the National Rescue Service, said that 28 people had died, and a further 11 were injured.

A fleet of 30 ambulances and four emergency service helicopters ferried the injured to three nearby hospitals.

Mr Gyorfi said that it was too early to give any more details about whereabouts in Germany the bus was from or what its planned destination had been. "The wreckage is too deformed," he said.

Tibor Pal, the state secretary at the Interior Ministry, said that the bus had been carrying 38 passengers. Its driver was among the dead, while the train's conductor was in critical condition in hospital, he added.

Christian Resing, spokesman for the German embassy in Budapest, said that a crisis centre was being set up and that the ambassador was on his way to the crash scene.

"At the moment, we don't have any information on the victims," he said. "We have a crisis centre here at the embassy, and we are in contact with our foreign ministry in Berlin, the Hungarian authorities, police and the foreign ministry."

Hungary's Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy was also due to visit the scene later today, his office said.

The crash is one of the worst to have happened in Hungary in recent decades. Last July, 19 Poles were killed and 32 injured when a bus taking them on a pilgrimage to Bosnia ploughed into a roundabout and overturned.

Lake Balaton, which is central Europe's largest freshwater lake, is one of Hungary's most popular holiday areas and a major wine-producing region. It draws large numbers of tourists every year, and is especially popular with German holidaymakers.