13 die as bus veers off highway and into ditch
Police spokesman Ralf Moritz said 31 people were injured, many of them seriously, in the accident on the A14 between Halle and Magdeburg.
The bus, carrying 48 people from Hopsten in north-western Germany, came off the road at about 1.45pm.
It landed on its roof at the bottom of a roadside embankment.
Mr Moritz said the accident happened when a truck ran into the bus at the site of a previous accident, causing the bus driver to lose control of its steering. The vehicle was travelling slowly at the time.
Five rescue helicopters were called out, and some of the injured were taken to hospitals in Halle and Magdeburg.
The head of the town council in Hopsten, Johannes Kramer, said the bus was carrying a group of local farmers on an annual tour and they were headed for the region around the eastern city of Dresden.
The tour was operated by Strier Reisen, a company which is based in nearby Ibbenbueren.
Its manager Thomas Strier said the driver, whom he described as “very reliable and experienced”, survived the accident. The Scania bus was four-years-old, he said.
Mr Strier said the driver had spoken with the company, and that he was “totally in shock”.
