A coach carrying 48 Dutch tourists overturned and plunged down an embankment in eastern Switzerland on Thursday afternoon, leaving several people dead and others injured, police said.
The accident happened at about 4.45pm between the communes of Susch and Zernez in the far-eastern canton of Graubunden, a mountainous region near the Austrian and Italian borders. The coach struck a safety barrier before tipping over and falling down a slope, a local police spokesman told Swiss media.
The Dutch Federation of Travel Agencies (ANVR) said the vehicle belonged to the tour operator Oad. All 48 passengers on board were Dutch nationals, according to the federation, though authorities have not yet released a confirmed count of the dead and wounded.
Emergency services responded to the mountain road in the hours after the crash, with rescue teams working to reach passengers thrown down the embankment. The stretch of road links small alpine settlements and carries heavy tourist traffic during travel season.
For the families of those aboard, the wait for identification and confirmation is likely to stretch across the coming days, as Swiss and Dutch authorities coordinate on the response. Coach and rail incidents on European routes have repeatedly drawn attention to passenger safety, including the high-speed train collision in Spain earlier this year.
Investigators have not identified a cause for the crash. Steep alpine roads, weather conditions and vehicle mechanics are among the factors typically examined in incidents of this kind, and a formal inquiry is expected to determine what led the coach off the road.
Swiss police said further details would be released as the recovery operation concluded and next of kin were notified. Travelers on alpine coach routes may see heightened scrutiny of operator safety standards while the investigation proceeds.