12 killed in crash on way to a shrine

A Poland-registered bus carrying pilgrims to a shrine in Bosnia has skidded from a motorway in northern Croatia, killing at least 12 people and injuring several others.

Croatian police said that “in the skidding of a bus with Polish licence plates, according to initial information from the field, 11 people died and several were injured”.

Officials said one more passenger died later in hospital and that the bus was carrying 43 people.

Croatia’s state HRT television reported about 30 people were injured, many seriously.

It said the most likely cause of the crash was the driver falling asleep.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the bus was taking pilgrims to a Catholic shrine in Medjugorje, in southern Bosnia.