Two dead in Norwegian-Swedish coach collision

Radio Sweden
Posted: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 at 10:03
0 Comments

Four passengers were transported by helicopter and ambulance to hospitals in the Norwegian towns or Bergen and Förde. (Marcel Mochet / AFP) — Four passengers were transported by helicopter and ambulance to hospitals in the Norwegian towns or Bergen (pictured here) and Förde. (Marcel Mochet / AFP)

A Taiwanese and a Norwegian woman died in a head-on collision between a Swedish tourist coach and a Norwegian bus in western Norway Monday.

There were several wounded and four passengers were transported by helicopter and ambulance to hospitals in Bergen and Förde.

“It looks really serious from where I’m standing. Both of the coaches are totally wrecked and its packed with ambulances, police and fire brigade,” an eye witness told Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang.

“They’ve had to cut some passengers free from the wreckage.”

The Swedish coach from Bergvarabuss tour company in Kalmar was carrying 22 Asian tourists, a guide and a driver on a tour of Norway, according to local police. The Norwegian coach had seven passengers and a driver.

“The driver is extremely shocked,” Mikael Andersson, a spokesman for the Swedish coach company told Swedish News Service TT.

The collision happened on national road 55, near Fardal, 150 km from Bergen – a popular tourist area which has seen heavy traffic recently due to the closure of a motorway tunnel.