20 Dead in German Motorway Bus Fire Accident, Dozens More Injured

Testimony from the 13 survivors of Tuesday night's fire established that it started in a bathroom in the middle of the bus, said local fire chief Bernd Keitel.

Passengers told officials they saw smoke seeping from behind the bathroom door. When they opened it, flames quickly engulfed the bus, trapping those seated to the rear.

Keitel told reporters he suspected that a spark in the bus's undercarriage may have set light to gases from the bathroom area. He said it was unlikely that the blaze was started by a passenger smoking clandestinely — smoking is illegal on buses in Germany — in the bathroom. He did not offer details.

Many of the dead were elderly people who apparently could not get out before the bus was engulfed in flames.

Survivors told authorities the fire broke out in the bathroom of the bus as it drove down the A2 Autobahn (highway) after a person smoked a cigarette there, police spokesman Stefan Wittke said.

Still, he said it was too early to rule out a mechanical problem with the bus as the cause of the blaze that also injured at least 13 people. Three of the injured had serious burns, according to one firefighter.

The bus had 39 primarily elderly passengers and the driver aboard, according to the Hannover-based company Mommeyer that owns it. Wittke, however, said 33 people were aboard the bus. It was not possible to immediately reconcile the difference.

A German official says 20 people were killed and another dozen injured in a tour bus accident Tuesday night near the city of Hannover in northern Germany.

A spokesman from Lower Saxony's Interior Ministry says the bus caught fire after the accident on the A2 Autobahn. He says it was not immediately clear why the bus caught fire.

The spokesman spoke on condition of anonymity according to ministry policy.