Passenger killed as bus carrying Ukrainian refugees overturns in Italy

The bus lies on its side after overturning near Forli, Italy (Vigili del Fuoco/AP)

A bus carrying about 50 Ukrainian refugees overturned on a major highway in north-eastern Italy at dawn on Sunday, killing one person, firefighters said.

Italian state radio said several other people were injured in the accident on the A14 autostrada near Forli, a town in the Emilia-Romagna region.

The rest of those on board were safely evacuated, it added.

The bus landed on its side on a grassy slope just beyond a highway guardrail and near a farm field. Firefighters used two cranes to set the vehicle upright and remove it.

Italy’s Interior Ministry said the bus had set out from Ukraine and was heading south to Pescara, an Adriatic port city, when it overturned.

The passengers were taken to a nearby police barracks for initial assistance, and would later resume their journey, the ministry said.

Some 35,000 Ukrainian refugees who fled war in their homeland have entered Italy, most of them through its north-eastern border with Slovenia.

The Emilia-Romagna region borders the Adriatic Sea.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.