18-year-old killed as double-decker bus overturns on Highway 25 in Sweden

An 18-year-old man has died and more than 40 people were affected after a double-decker bus overturned on Highway 25 in southern Sweden on Monday afternoon.

The single-vehicle crash, on the route between Vaxjo and Ljungby, happened at about 4.30pm, according to the rescue services. A large emergency operation involving rescue services, ambulances, police and a Swedish Maritime Administration helicopter was launched at the scene (https://swedenherald.com/article/bus-overturns-on-highway-25-between-vaxjo-and-alvesta-several-taken-to-hospital).

Police announced in the evening that an 18-year-old man had died in the accident. Region Kronoberg, the regional health authority, said more than 40 people were affected in total. The injured were taken to hospitals in Vaxjo, Ljungby and Karlskrona; overnight, ten people were being treated at hospitals in Kronoberg — eight in Vaxjo, two of them in intensive care, and two in Ljungby.

The bus was operated for Lanstrafiken i Kronoberg, the county’s public transport operator. Traffic director Par Welander told Swedish news agency TT he had no information about how the accident happened, and told Dagens Nyheter the bus was “a direct bus with mainly schoolchildren and commuters.”

Police are investigating and will question the driver and passengers; police spokesperson Filip Annas said the injured would be interviewed as soon as possible. The crash site was cordoned off for a technical investigation, and the Swedish Transport Administration said the road would not reopen before 7am on Tuesday at the earliest.