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The bus went off
the road near a highway exit close to the city of Verona
overnight. The local highway police chief said it was carrying
mostly teenage students, teachers and parents.
"Many children among the victims of the accident in Verona, a
bus catches fire on impact with a pillar," national police said
on Twitter, adding they had come to Italy from France.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told a news
conference that the teenagers were from a Budapest secondary
school, returning from their annual ski camp in France.
He added that there was uncertainty over the exact number of
passengers in the bus, but it was higher than the director of
the school had known about.
Szijjarto said that one of the victims, whose life was at risk,
was being kept in coma, and that all of the injured were in
hospital.
The minister added that twelve passengers were "well" and were
staying in a hotel in the southern part of Verona.
Local highway police chief Girolamo Lacquaniti told SkyTG24
television some people had minor injuries, but others were more
serious.
Lacquaniti said the cause of the crash would be investigated.
"We are not aware of other vehicles being involved, it seems to
have gone off the road of its own accord."
Police released photographs and television footage of the
burned-out hulk near a road bridge. The wreckage had been
removed from the road by around 0800 GMT.
"With my prayers, I am with the families and friends shocked by
the tragedy," Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a statement
sent to the national news agency MTI.
(Reporting By Stefano Rellandini, Giulia Segreti and Philip
Pullella and Sandor Peto in Budapest; writing by Isla Binnie;
Editing by Toby Chopra)
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