Schoolbus crash leaves 16 children hospitalised after tyre blow out in German forest as mass casualty response activated

SIXTEEN schoolchildren have been hospitalised after a bus burst its tire and broke down in Germany. Around 40 kids had been travelling to school when the driver lost control in Bärenstein, near Germany’s border with the Czech Republic. More than a dozen children were injured in the bus accident in Bärenstein Credit: Alamy Nine ambulances were dpeloyed to the scene Credit: AP:Associated Press (file) The terrifying incident unfolded after the bus driver decided to take a detour off the B95 highway. While driving through the mountainous Bärenstein region, a tire suddenly burst – and plunged the bus into chaos. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! As the panic escalated, the driver managed to bring the bus to a stop – and escaped uninjured. Nine ambulances raced to the scene and desperately pulled children from the wreckage. A “mass casualty” incident had been launched as emergency departments initially struggled to piece together what had happened, said local media. The entire regional fire department was also deployed to help the wounded in the forest area of Bärenstein. Of the children on board, 24 survived unharmed. The remaining 16 have been taken to hospital to be treated for “acoustic trauma”, police say. Most read in The Sun A replacement bus sped to the accident and transported the uninjured children to Bärenstein primary school. Police have opened a probe into the heart-stopping incident. The Ore Mountains – where the bus broke down – has previously been marred by tragedy. In December 2023, a young boy was killed after a bus smashed into a winter service vehicle. And over the summer, one schoolboy lost his life in a devastating bus collision. Dozens more were injured after two buses collided head-on near Hebertshausen in Upper Bavaria, Germany. All 35 people involved in the smash were injured – many of them children. The impact occurred on a bend in the road, where speed limits are set at 60 km/h in one direction and 50 km/h in the other. Police did not know what caused the crash – which they described as “a very grim scene”. Comment now