13 international students die in a coach crash south of Barcelona

Barcelona (CNA).- A coach crash has killed 13 international students, all of them female, and 23 are still in hospital, some of them in a critical condition. The accident happened at 6 am this Sunday on the AP7-motorway, between the Catalan capital and Valencia, near Freginals, 150 km south of Barcelona. A total of five buses, carrying foreign and local students from the Universitat de Barcelona, were returning from Valencia, after attending the ‘Fallas’ fireworks festival. One of the coaches crashed and although the cause of the accident is still not clear, investigation points to human error as the most likely cause of the tragedy. According to Catalan Minister for Home Affairs, Jordi Jane, the coach “hit the railing on the right and swerved to the left so violently that it veered onto the other side of the highway”.

Many of the students on board “were foreign students studying in Catalonia and in Barcelona, who had travelled to Valencia for the Fallas and were returning”, added Jane. 

Emergency services confirmed that the students on the coach represented 19 nationalities: France, the Netherlands, Finland, Hungary, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, the UK, Italy, Peru, Bulgaria, Poland, Ireland, Palestine, Japan and Ukraine. They could not confirm the nationalities of the dead.

The Universitat de Barcelona offered its condolences to the victims’ families in a statement released via Twitter. It read: “The #UniBarcelona sends its condolences to the families and relatives of the victims of today’s bus accident. We remain at your disposal for any further needs.”

Flags at the Universitat de Barcelona were reportedly being flown at half-mast as a sign of respect towards the dead and five minutes of silence will be held on Monday. Moreover, the university has opened its doors to offer its condolences to the victims’ families and friends.