Four dead & 35 injured in horror bus crash on German motorway after coach carrying 52 passengers overturns

FOUR people have been killed after a FlixBus coach veered off a German motorway.

At least 35 passengers were also injured in the horror crash near the eastern city of Leipzig.

The coach was heading to Nuremberg from Berlin on the A9 motorway when it overturned with two drivers and 52 passengers on board.

Authorities confirmed four people died in the smash.

A further six were seriously injured, and 29 were hurt.

German operator Flixbus said both drivers, aged 62 and 53, survived.

Photos showed the bus on its side, having seemingly ploughed into trees on the side of the road.

Police said late Wednesday they couldn't yet give information on the ages and nationalities of the victims, and that the identification of the dead hadn't yet been completed.

They said they have opened an investigation on suspicion of negligent manslaughter.

Emergency services attended to the injured at the scene and the motorway was closed in both directions following the incident on Wednesday morning, German authorities said.

There were no indications that other vehicles were involved in the crash, according to the police.

German Transport Minister Volker Wissing said he was "shocked" by the accident.

He told Welt TV: "Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and, of course, with all those affected, and we wish the injured a speedy recovery."

Another Flixbus vehicle crashed on the same stretch of motorway in May 2019.

In that accident involving a bus travelling from Berlin to Munich, one person was killed and more than 60 injured, seven of them seriously.