Eighteen people are missing and feared dead after flames engulfed a tour bus that crashed on the A9 motorway in southern Germany.
The bus was in a collision with a lorry near Stammbach in north Bavaria.
Thirty people escaped the fire, some critically injured. Rescue helicopters joined emergency workers at the scene.
A fire service spokesman said it was unlikely that any of the 18 missing could have survived. Police say the tourists were Germans from Saxony.
Police have blocked the motorway. There were 46 passengers and two drivers on the bus, which was burning fiercely when firefighters arrived at the scene.
It is not yet clear what caused the collision. Traffic was reportedly moving slowly at the time.
A police spokesman told German news channel n-tv that there were good medical facilities in Bayreuth, not far from the crash site.
Source : BBC
