Philippine diplomatic posts in Germany are working with local police after a tour bus carrying Filipino travelers to Munich’s Oktoberfest flipped over on a Bavarian highway early Sunday, September 27, leaving two people dead and at least eight seriously injured.
The Philippine consulates in Frankfurt and Munich said in a joint statement that they were in close contact with German police and other authorities about the Filipinos caught up in the accident.
“We extend our deepest condolences to those who lost their loved ones and our thoughts to those injured,” the statement read.
“The consulate is ready to provide consular assistance and support to those affected and their families,” it added.
Families and affected travelers can reach the Philippine Consulate General in Frankfurt round the clock at +49 151 53546841.
Every passenger aboard was a Filipino national, according to Martin Cornils, spokesman for the Fürstenfeldbruck Traffic Police Inspectorate, who told Bavarian public broadcaster BR that the group was reportedly bound for the beer festival. Roughly 35 people filled the coach to capacity, though officials said the final headcount had yet to be confirmed.
An Italian company operated the bus, which had set out from Milan. It was one of two drivers, an Italian national, who was at the wheel when the vehicle drifted off the right side of the road near Buchloe in the Ostallgäu district, west of Munich, at around 6 a.m. local time, or noon in Manila. No other vehicle was involved. The coach rolled and landed on its right side next to a roadside ditch. Neither driver was hurt.
Rescue helicopters flew six of the injured straight to hospitals, and ambulances carried two more. Emergency teams set up a casualty collection point where 22 other passengers received treatment, and several of them were later moved to hospitals as well.
Investigators have not determined why the bus left the road, and the public prosecutor’s office has brought in an expert to reconstruct the crash.
Police told BR that one of the seriously injured passengers was in critical condition.
