Three people have died and multiple people have been injured after a bus carrying 60 to 70 people crashed on Boxing Day in northern Norway.
Local police in the northwestern Norwegian Hadsel district have said the incident happened at around 1.30pm after the bus came off the E10, the road that runs through Hadsel in Nordland county, and crashed through the road barrier before ending up partially in the Åsvatnet lake, with several people transferred to the local Nordland hospital.
Bent Are Eilertsen, chief of Staff of the Nordland Police District said in a statement today that four people were seriously injured. Other passengers hurt in the smash were taken to a nearby school, after emergency services, including rescue helicopters and volunteers from the Red Cross, rushed to the scene. Norwegian national broadcaster VG reported that the passengers hailed from at least eight different nations, but added it is unclear as to where those who were hurt hailed from.
The bus is understood to have driven through a guardrail before falling down a slope and into the lake. There were reports of a strong wind and snow drifts, according to local journalists. A photojournalist who arrived at the scene told national broadcaster VG there was "strong wind" and "dense snow drifts".
They said: "It appears that the bus has driven through the guardrail and down the slope to Åsvatnet. There was a very strong wind and dense snow drifts when I arrived at the scene." Nordland Hospital, which was on red alert following the incident, said a disaster team was established in response to the incident after emergency services were alerted to the incident at around 1.30pm.
Nordland Communications manager Randi Angelsen told VG: "Additional resources called in, personnel, ambulances, helicopters and aircraft resources to transport injured people to hospital." Odd Inge Bardal, County Director for Transport and Infrastructure, added in a statement that the county has set up its own crisis team responsible for public transport operations.
The official said: "We have set up a crisis team in the department responsible for public transport operations and held a coordination meeting. The safety and emergency management manager in Nordland County Municipality is participating in a crisis meeting with the local crisis centre."
A man who lives the nearby town of Svolvær told local outlets: "There were a lot of emergency services, panic and chaos at the scene. It looked like they were in control. The helicopter landed just as we were there." He added that his son's girlfriend was slightly bruised following the accident, and that an "extremely large number" of cars had arrived at the scene and let people into their cars to warm up. Footage from the scene shows emergency services combing through snow as they look through the bus wreckage.