14 DAY TRIAL // 18 Romanian tourists have died in a bus crash in Montenegro and several others have been injured, authorities say.
The other 29 people on the bus have been hurt when it plummeted off the Zdrijelo Bridge in central Montenegro.
Seven people are currently hospitalized in the intensive care unit the country's capital city of Podgorita, some 30 km (18 miles) away from the accident spot, Romania Insider reports.
The bus tour was set up by Maree Travel on a vehicle owned by Gregory Tour. The travel guide and two drivers are among those injured in the Zdrijelo Bridge crash.
The bus crashed near the town of Grlo, where it took a 40-meter (131-foot) fall from a bridge in a mountainous area.
It exited a tunnel, took down a railing and smashed into the cliffs near the Moraca river. It did not reach the water in the fall.
Several tourists were hospitalized at the Clinical center of Montenegro, 11 of whom incurred serious wounds requiring surgery.
One person was submitted to neurosurgery, while five underwent thoracic surgical procedures. Three people were submitted to otorinolaringology and maxillofacial surgeries and one tourist needed a surgical intervention to the digestive system.
Romania's Subsecretary of State Raed Arafat has traveled to the area to assess which patients will be flown back to undergo treatment in the country.
A plane will be sent out to transport the remains of the tourists who lost their lives in the collision.
The bus was carrying the tourists on a tour of Montenegro and Croatia for a six-day voyage. They had left Romania on Saturday, June 22 and the trip came to an abrupt end the next day.
Reps for the Maree Travel tour company have given out a statement describing the bus as functional, adding that it incurred no mechanical issues. The cause of the collision is not known at this point.