14 foreign students killed in Spain bus crash

Fourteen foreign exchange students have been killed and 43 others injured in a bus accident in northeastern Spain.

The accident occurred on Saturday just before 6 am (0500 GMT) near the small town of Freginals, about 150 kilometers (95 miles) south of Barcelona as the bus was returning from a traditional festival in the eastern city of Valencia.

Regional authorities in Catalonia said the bus was carrying foreign students registered at Barcelona University as part of the European Erasmus exchange program.

Catalonia region spokesperson for interior matters, Jordi Jane, said the nationalities of the dead had not yet been established.

The driver “hit the railing on the right and swerved to the left so violently that the bus veered onto the other side of the highway,” Jane said.

The bus then hit an oncoming car, injuring two people inside, he added.

Spanish television showed images of the car, the front of which was smashed in, and the bus lying on its side after the accident.