VIENNA, Austria - A speeding semitrailer crashed into a double-decker German tour bus early Monday, killing eight teen-agers and injuring 21 others, officials said.
Four boys and four girls were killed in the crash, about 55 miles west of Vienna, police told the Austria Press Agency. The semitrailer jumped the median at about 4:15 a.m. and plowed into the tour bus, splitting it in half, police said. Another truck transporting stones then crashed into the damaged bus from behind.
The passengers on the double-decker bus, aged 14 to 17, were on their way to the Hungarian Lake Balaton for a two-week vacation, according to the Broeskamp bus company that chartered the vehicle. The teen-agers came from the southern German cities of Frieburg, Munich and Stuttgart.
The injured were taken to hospitals in St. Poelten and Melk.
The highway where the accident occurred is one of the most traveled routes between eastern and western Europe.
