A Flixbus bus was involved in a serious traffic accident on the A9 near Leipzig on Wednesday morning. According to the police, five people were killed and another 20 were injured. Rescue operations continued throughout the day. The highway was closed in both directions for several hours.

A crane was still operating at the scene, a police spokesman said Wednesday night. The motorway in the direction of Munich was completely closed. At first, it remained unclear when the blockade would be lifted.

According to the Bild newspaper, there were mainly young passengers in the bus. The route ran from Berlin to Switzerland. Flixbus reported that there were 53 passengers and two drivers on board. The driver of the Flixbus bus that crashed on the A9 near Leipzig was observing driving and rest hours, the company said.

“There were two drivers on board, the second driver had been driving the bus since it left Berlin at 8am,” a spokesman for Antenne Bayern radio said on Wednesday. Both drivers survived the accident. However, the eyewitness tells the details of their behavior.

Black before the eyes

Sadaf Bahaduri was sitting in Flixbus with three children (4, 6, 9 years old) when the tragic accident happened. She initially wanted to visit her relatives in Switzerland, but spent the day in the emergency department of a clinic in Delich, northern Saxony. In an interview with “Leipziger Volkszeitung”, she says about the trip that it started with emotions, because the driver got lost and had to brake sharply.

According to her, during the trip, the driver repeatedly talked loudly with his colleague. “We were suddenly thrown here and there, and then my eyes went dark,” says Bagadury, describing the moment of the fall. When he recovered, the bus had already overturned. The older son then frantically searched for the other two children and found his siblings sitting upside down in their chairs.

“We’ll all buckle up, maybe we’re lucky,” says Bagadury. Fortunately, the mother suffered minor injuries in the accident. And her three children were lucky. “I was treated quickly here, the nurses and doctors took care of me and my children.” The woman was able to leave the clinic in the evening with her three children, but the shock is still deep.

Casual firefighters

Part of the good fortune was that shortly after the accident, a group of Saar firefighters returning from a trip to Berlin happened to pass by the accident site. They immediately rushed to help the wounded without thinking.

“Before the official emergency services arrived at the scene of the accident, the group provided first aid and helped the victims. They freed the people from the bus, divided them into categories and divided them into lightly injured and seriously injured,” Widemar fire chief Nicole Fischer told Bild. Thanks to their quick intervention, they were able to carry out important training for the rescue teams, which arrived a little later.

Clinics of the region have prepared for large-scale operations. A spokesman for the Diakonissen Hospital in Leipzig said the emergency department had been alerted and the operating and diagnostic rooms had been prepared for the arrival of patients. Eleven victims were treated at Leipzig University Hospital, including one in critical condition, a spokesman said in the afternoon. He is being treated in the intensive care unit.

Condolences from the authorities

Saxony’s Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU) received an overview of the accident. He expressed his condolences to the families of the victims on Wednesday. Also, “I hope the injured make a speedy recovery.” Shuster thanked the rescuers for their professional work. It was a “difficult situation” that was “handled beautifully.”

Following the serious bus accident, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wiesing expressed his condolences to the victims and survivors. “This affects us deeply,” a VDP politician told the Welt TV news channel on Wednesday.

“Such accidents are shocking. Our thoughts are with the victims’ relatives and, of course, with all those affected, and we wish the injured a speedy recovery,” Wiesing continued. “Unfortunately, such accidents are always very shocking and affect us a lot,” he added.