May 18, 2003	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 15, 1424

LYON, May 17: Twenty-eight Germans headed for a holiday in Spain were killed and 47 were hurt when their coach slid off a motorway in driving rain near the southeastern French city of Lyon in the early hours of Saturday, rescue officials said.

There were indications that the bus, which was carrying 75 people including two drivers, had been travelling too fast and was probably overtaking another vehicle when it left the road, slid down a bank and rolled over several times.

More than 100 rescue workers and doctors rushed to the scene of the crash, which occurred just before 5am (0300 GMT), and spent several hours extracting the dead and injured from the twisted wreckage of the vehicle.

According to midday official counts, six people were seriously injured and 41 others suffered lighter injuries, including a handful being treated for shock.

All were rushed to local hospitals after the dawn rescue, many of them by helicopter.

The tourists, from all over Germany and of all ages, had won a trip to Spain in a lottery, officials said. They had begun their bus journey in Helmstedt, near the northern German city of Hanover.

The crash occurred on the A6 autoroute in the northern suburbs of Lyon. Rescue officials said the high toll was probably due to the way the bus crashed, with some passengers being ejected and then crushed when the vehicle rolled over them.

“The shock was extremely violent,” said Serge Delaigue, head of the rescue team. The motorway was still closed more than five hours after the accident.

French Transport Secretary Dominique Bussereau, who arrived midday at the site, called it a scene of “absolute horror”.

He was due to visit the injured.

The bus belonged to the Hanover-based Tiger Reisen company. Officials there said it had picked up its passengers across the country as it headed south. Rescue workers said around three-quarters of the passengers were asleep at the time of the crash.—AFP