Croatian Health Minister Rajko Ostojic on Saturday visited injured Czech passengers who were admitted to the hospital in Gospic after their bus hit a motorway barrier and turned over on the opposite lane near the Krpani Tunnel on the Zagreb-Split motorway on early Saturday morning.
In the accident, eight people lost their lives, including a seven-year-old child. They will be identified in the Karlovac hospital.
The Gospic hospital head Marija Ilijevska informed the health minister that emergency teams from Gospic, Zadar, Ogulin and Karlovac promptly arrived at the accident scene and that all 44 injured persons had been treated within one hour after the crash.
Minister Ostojic said that he had arrived in the Gospic hospital to see how else the injured Czech nationals could be helped.
Three passengers who sustained the worst injuries were transferred by helicopter from Gospic to Zagreb earlier in the day, and according to the latest reports from Zagreb hospitals, one of them, a young girl, is in a coma with multiple injuries and fractures. The other girl, who was transferred to Zagreb, is conscious and has serious injuries to her lower leg. The third patient in Zagreb is a 60-year-old woman and she is currently stable.
The local prosecutorial authorities said that the preliminary on-site investigation had been completed and that further inquiries would be carried out to establish why the bus driver lost his control over the vehicle on the 122nd kilometre of the Zagreb-Split motorway and subsequently hit the motorway barrier after which the bus tumbled.
Long traffic delays along the motorway ensued after the crash.
