Sixteen dead, many Hungarian teenagers, in Italy bus accident: police

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The bus went off the road near a highway exit close to Verona around midnight on Friday. The local highway police chief said it was carrying mostly teenage students, teachers and parents.

The number of victims could rise to 18, "but certainly no more than that", the Hungarian consul in Italy, Judit Timaffy, told reporters in Verona. At least two of those hurt are in serious condition.

A charred bus, which was carrying Hungarian students, is seen on a side of a highway, near Verona, northern Italy, January 21, 2017. Italian Police/Handout via REUTERS

"Many children among the victims of the accident in Verona, a bus catches fire on impact with a pillar," national police said on Twitter.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told a news conference that the teenagers were from a Budapest secondary school, returning from their annual ski camp in France. A spokesman for the minister told Reuters the school was the Szinyei Gimnazium.

The Hungarian government declared Monday a day of national mourning.

The official passenger list included 54 people, Gabor Toth, director of the school, told national news agency MTI. Thirty-six students, some former students, three teachers and the family of one of the teachers were on board, he said.

Earlier, Szijjarto had said the exact number of passengers on board was unknown, but it was higher than the director of the school had known about.

A physical education teacher, who suffered severe burns, returned to the bus several times to save other passengers and all of the survivors were "well taken care of", Timaffy said.

Six adults are seriously injured and are being treated in two different hospitals in Verona, Hungarian national TV M1 reported. Of them, two men are in life-threatening condition, a spokesperson for the Hungarian national ambulance service said, speaking to M1.

Survivors were staying in a hotel south of the city, the minister said.

Local highway police chief Girolamo Lacquaniti told TV channel SKY TG24 that identifying the victims was still at an early stage and was advancing "with extreme difficulties."

Magistrates and authorities from the highway police were meeting in Verona, with an afternoon press conference canceled and not rescheduled.

In Budapest, hundreds gathered outside the secondary school in city center, with police having to close part of the street.