BUDAPEST — A passenger bus carrying Polish pilgrims overturned on a highway in Hungary early Sunday, killing 12 people and injuring dozens of others, authorities said.The bus was traveling eastbound on the M3 motorway near the town of Mezokeresztes, about 140 kilometers east of Budapest, when it went off the road and overturned in a ditch at around 1 a.m.Hungarian police said preliminary information indicated that the driver likely fell asleep at the wheel. The driver was taken into custody as authorities investigated the cause of the crash.Hungary’s National Directorate for Disaster Management said 57 passengers and two drivers were aboard the bus. Several passengers were trapped beneath the vehicle following the crash.Polish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maciej Wewiór said all those aboard were Polish citizens.The passengers were from Poland’s southeastern Podkarpackie region and were returning home from a pilgrimage in Bosnia-Herzegovina, according to the regional government in Rzeszow.Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar said at least 10 people were seriously injured. He offered condolences to the victims’ families and thanked emergency personnel who responded to the accident.Polish President Karol Nawrocki expressed “deep sorrow” over the deaths.“I join the families and loved ones of the victims in prayer and deep sympathy,” Nawrocki said.
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