Bus from Kraków to Budapest catches fire after crash in Slovakia, driver dies PHOTO

A long-distance coach travelling from Kraków to Budapest has caught fire following a collision with a lorry in central Slovakia, leaving one person dead and dozens injured, emergency services have said.

The crash happened on the morning of February 17 in the village of Liptovská Osada when the passenger coach collided with a timber-laden truck, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

Authorities said the bus burst into flames shortly after the impact.

The coach driver died at the scene after becoming trapped inside the burning vehicle. Twenty-six passengers, most of them Polish nationals, managed to escape before the fire spread through the bus.

Emergency responders dispatched four ambulances to the scene. A man with multiple injuries was taken to hospital in Ružomberok, while a 47-year-old woman with head and thigh injuries was transported to a medical facility in Banská Bystrica. Another injured passenger, aged 37, declined hospital treatment.

Sixteen firefighters and eight emergency vehicles were involved in rescue and recovery operations. Survivors were transported by evacuation buses to the nearby village of Liptovské Revúce, where psychological support teams were deployed to assist those affected.

Traffic over the Donovaly mountain pass, which was temporarily closed following the crash, has since been reopened. Police investigators in Ružomberok are examining the circumstances surrounding the collision.

By Aghakazim Guliyev