45 children die in bus disaster

Press, 12 April 1979, Page 6

45 children die in bus disaster

NZPA-Reuter Benavente, (Spain) Rescue teams yesterday tried to recover the bodies of about 50 people — 45 of them children —from a bus which plunged into a flooded river near Benavente on Tuesday. The bus was lying under! 8m of water. Rescuers worked through the night under the glare of huge] spotlights and with a crane,' | trying to find the vehicle. I Nine children and a sol-i dier who hitchhiked a ride! survived the crash. They, managed to swim to safety through broken windows, j helped by local youths who] dived into the cold, swift-i flowing River Obrigo. The children and their!

teachers were on their way home to the Galician town of Vigo after an Easter holiday trip to Madrid and other towns. Eyewitnesses and survivors said the bus was travelling slowly when it went out of control on a bridge. It ■hit a railing, careered across I the road, and toppled into the river. The Transport Ministry! 'ordered an immediate in- ( vestigation into the cause of ] the accident, the worst of I several in recent years in (Spain involving buses. ! Less than four months : ago, 30 children were killed i when their school bus was ( cut in two by a railway enI gine near the western city of i Salamanca.