Portuguese President To Join Tribute For Island Bus Crash Victims
Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published April 19, 2019 | 07:33 PM
Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo will attend a mass on Friday in tribute to 29 German tourists who died when their bus tumbled down a slope and crashed into a house on the tourist island of Madeira
Investigators are still trying to determine how the vehicle ended up mangled on the side of a hillside near the town of Canico on Wednesday.
Portuguese public tv RTP reported on Friday that the bus's accelerator was possibly stuck and that the driver might have tried to stop the speeding vehicle by hitting a wall.
"I think the brakes were gone, I cannot imagine another reason (for the crash)," a 60-year-old German holidaymaker who escaped with a broken rib told Portuguese television.
Sixteen wounded people, of which 14 are German, remain in medical care in the regional capital Funchal, according to an update by the hospital, but none would be evacuated from the island on Friday.
"They are all in a stable condition," said the deputy clinical director of the hospital, Miguel Reis.
An aircraft intended to repatriate the victims has been "put on hold", the German foreign ministry told AFP, but will be used later to transport the wounded to Germany.
Most of the dead were aged in their 40s and 50s, according to local authorities.
They were among the more than one million tourists who visit the Atlantic islands off the coast of Morocco each year, attracted by their subtropical climate and rugged volcanic terrain.
President Rebelo will visit survivors in hospital on Friday before attending the mass at the Presbyterian church in Funchal.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
At least 10 people killed in Brazil fire: officials
Shahzaib Rind calls on Deputy Speaker Balochistan
Ahsan chairs 13th CPEC-JCC preparatory meeting, reviews arrangements for high-le ..
DC Tharparkar inaugurates anti-polio campaign
HDA Mehran workers demand salaries
Taxila police nab motorcycle lifter gang
Inter-university weightlifting championship kicks off at SAU
Walk held in a series of enrollment campaigns
Team from Gaza mediator Egypt arrives in Israel for truce talks
Kids murders: IHC orders psychiatric examination of mother
Health minister credits PML-N for advancements in organ transplantation
Court grants interim bail to Azam Swati in cyber crime case
More Stories From World
-
At least 10 people killed in Brazil fire: officials
33 minutes ago -
Team from Gaza mediator Egypt arrives in Israel for truce talks
37 minutes ago -
Kenya flood death toll since March climbs to 70
36 minutes ago -
Two Kyiv hospitals evacuating over feared Russian strikes
32 minutes ago -
Junta-led Burkina Faso suspends BBC, Voice of America for two weeks
2 hours ago -
Romania court opens way for start of influencer Tate's trial
2 hours ago
-
Kenya flood death toll since March climbs to 70
2 hours ago -
At least 10 people killed in Brazil fire: officials
2 hours ago -
Russia targets Ukraine railways as Western aid due to arrive
3 hours ago -
Miner Anglo American rejects BHP's near $39-billion takeover bid
3 hours ago -
At least 10 people killed in Brazil fire: officials
3 hours ago -
Junta-led Burkina Faso suspends BBC, Voice of America for two weeks
3 hours ago