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Sunday 24 of November 2024

Serbia arrests bus driver as death toll in crash rises to 7


In this photo made available by Serbian police, Police officers attend the scene of a bus and train crash near the city of Nis, Serbia, Friday, Dec. 21, 2018. A train has slammed into a bus in southern Serbia killing three people and injuring 22. (Serbian police via AP),In this photo made available by Serbian police, Police officers attend the scene of a bus and train crash near the city of Nis, Serbia, Friday, Dec. 21, 2018. A train has slammed into a bus in southern Serbia killing three people and injuring 22. (Serbian police via AP)
In this photo made available by Serbian police, Police officers attend the scene of a bus and train crash near the city of Nis, Serbia, Friday, Dec. 21, 2018. A train has slammed into a bus in southern Serbia killing three people and injuring 22. (Serbian police via AP),In this photo made available by Serbian police, Police officers attend the scene of a bus and train crash near the city of Nis, Serbia, Friday, Dec. 21, 2018. A train has slammed into a bus in southern Serbia killing three people and injuring 22. (Serbian police via AP)

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Authorities in Serbia have arrested the driver of the bus that was hit by a train last month as the number of dead in the crash has risen to seven.

Serbia’s state TV said Thursday that prosecutors have ordered a 30-day detention for the driver as soon as he is well enough to leave the hospital. He’s suspected of gravely endangering safety.

The bus was carrying mostly high school students to school when a train slammed into it near the southern city of Nis, practically cutting the bus in half. Five people were immediately killed in the Dec. 21 crash and scores were injured.

Two more people have died later in the hospital.

The crash has triggered protests and a debate about road and railway safety in the Balkan country.