Nine people have died and 21 are seriously injured after a bus careered off the road in the town of Avila, near Madrid.

It is not yet known what caused the accident, although early indications are it was travelling at excessive speed on a bend.

Rescue services removed several passengers who had become trapped in the wreckage.

“We confirm nine dead, five seriously injured and more than 10 slightly injured in the bus crash,” said an emergency services spokesman for the region of Castile and Leon.

The commuter bus, from a local company called Cevesa, was serving the route Serranillos-Ávila, from South to the North of the province of Avila.

Several drivers passing by alerted the authorities around 8.30 am about the accident. Pictures of the scene show the bus lying by the side of the road with the front windscreen smashed and most of the windows missing.

Four bodies lay on the N-403 road, completely covered in white sheets or silver foil.

Emergency services workers in black helmets and tunics carried one person away in a stretcher and several other people, apparently shocked passengers, sat on the kerb nearby.

The families of the victims have been taken to Avila, to the Carlos Sastre Sports Center, where a team of social workers and psycologists are providing medical attention and support.

There is no information about the nationalities of the victims but early indications are the passengers are from the villages located along the bus route.

More follows…

 

 

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