Five people killed after bus plunges off 240ft bridge into a Spanish river on Christmas Eve

Five people have died after a bus plunged off a 240 foot bridge into a river in northwestern Spain’s Galicia region last night, officials have said. 

The bus was carrying people visiting their loved ones jailed in Monterroso in central Galacia, said La Voz de Galacia, a regional newspaper. 

Emergency services said two corpses were removed from the bus while two others -including the bus driver – were rescued and taken to hospital. 

Spain’s Civil Guard later said three more bodies were found earlier today. The woman’s body was recovered but the man’s body was yet to be retrieved. 

Emergency services who attended the scene in Galacia’s region said two corpses were removed from the bus while two others -including the bus driver – were rescued and taken to hospital

Spain’s Civil Guard later said two more bodies were found today. The woman’s body was recovered but the man’s body is yet to be retrieved

Officials believe there were eight or nine passengers on board. 

On Twitter, the emergency services said: ‘There could have been more people inside the bus’ and posted a photo of the vehicle in turbulent waters. 

The horrific accident took place ‘at a spot with a steep gradient’, making access difficult, according to a Civil Guard spokesman in the city of Pontevedra, some 30 kilometres from the site of the tragedy.  

The Civil Guard said the bus driver had tested negative for alcohol. 

The authorities said a motorist first raised the alarm after noticing a safety rail on the bridge had been damaged. Rescuers then received a call from the bus, which helped them find the wreckage. 

On Twitter, the emergency services said: ‘There could have been more people inside the bus’ and posted a photo of the vehicle in turbulent waters

Emergency services retrieved bodies from the crushed bus but said there may be more bodies missing

Meanwhile, rescue operations had to be suspended overnight due to bad weather but resumed this morning.  

Authorities said rescue operations were also complicated by the heavy rain during the night, causing the level of the Lerez river, where the bus fell, to rise sharply.

They said the cause of the accident was not yet known but that the poor weather could have played a role.

‘We do not yet know the causes with certainty’ but ‘it is true that the weather conditions were very bad that night’, said Alfonso Rueda, the president of the Galicia region.