Germany coach crash: '˜17 dead, 31 hurt' after collision

Fire fighters stand beside a burnt-out coach on the motorway A9 near Muenchberg, southeastern Germany, Picture; AP

Police said several people were severely injured in the crash near Muenchberg, Bavaria, but they had no further details immediately.

Spokeswoman Irene Brandenstein said 46 people and two drivers were on the bus.

Helicopters and ambulances were on the scene to rescue the injured and the A9 motorway was closed in both directions because of the accident.

31 are injured with 17 feared dead. Picture; AP

Two drivers and 46 people were on the bus, police spokeswoman Irene Brandenstein said.

Ms Brandenstein said the bus crashed into the truck at the end of a traffic jam.

Police say they fear a number of people may have died when a bus went up in flames after it crashed into a truck Monday morning in southern Germany, injuring 31 people and leaving 17 others unaccounted for.

Rescue helicopters sit on the motorway A9 near Muenchberg, Picture; AP

“We’re afraid that people may have died in the accident,” police spokeswoman Irene Brandenstein told The Associated Press.

She said several people were severely injured in the crash near Muenchberg in Bavaria.

Local Oberfranken police tweeted that the travel group came from Saxony in eastern Germany and that a phone number had been activated to provide family members with information.

31 are injured with 17 feared dead. Picture; AP

German news channel n-tv showed images of the bus which was burned down to a black, smoking skeleton.

Several helicopters and ambulances were on the scene to rescue the injured and the A9 highway was closed in both directions because of the accident.

Brandenstein said the bus crashed into the truck at the end of a traffic jam. She had no information immediately about what happened to the truck driver. She said she had no information about who was on the bus.