Two accidents with Polish busses occur in one day

A bus ran off a road and flipped onto its side Sunday in western Poland, leaving 23 people injured, police said, just hours after 26 Polish pilgrims died in another bus accident in France.

In the incident in Poland, the bus was carrying 47 passengers from Belarus to Germany when it slammed through the guardrail on the A2 highway near Poznan and slid onto its side, Wielkopolska police spokesman Romuald Piecuch said.

The 23 people hurt, including five with serious injuries, were rushed to hospitals in Poznan, Piecuch said. Most of the passengers were Belarusian, he said.

Police were investigating the cause of the accident.

Earlier Sunday, 26 Polish pilgrims died in France when their bus plunged off a steep mountain road, crashed into a river bank and burst into flames near the village of Vizille, not far from Grenoble.